Long Term Research in Environmental Biology (LTREB): California vernal pool plant community ecology and restoration, 2000-2017

This data set includes annual vegetation data and selected water depth data collected during the period 2000-2017 from vernal pool basins that were constructed in 1999 as part of a large-scale vernal pool mitigation effort at Travis Air Force Base, California. The constructed pools covered an area of about 15 Ha and were located adjacent to a complex of naturally-occurring pools, which were used as reference sites for comparison. Five plant species were intentionally seeded into the pools according to five seeding treatment protocols to assess the influence of order of colonization, frequency of colonization, and dispersal limitation on vernal pool plant community assembly. Because water depth was known to influence plant species distributions, water depth was recorded weekly during the winter wet season in selected years for each constructed and reference pool at the site. Seed plots were 50 cm x 50 cm and were permanently marked and used for repeated sampling of vegetation from 2000-2017. For each plant species that occurred in the plots, the frequency of occurrence was recorded as the number of squares out of a 100-cell grid laid over the plot in which that plant species appeared. For the five species that were planted into the plots, the frequency was recorded, as above, but in addition the number of individuals of that species in the plot was also recorded.