Local dispersal of Limnanthes nutlets: an experiment with artificial vernal pools

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Abstract
Local dispersal of nutlets in Limnanthes species was studied by seeding four taxa per pool in nine pools from among a total of 12 experimental vernal pools. Dispersal within a pool was measured by the relative frequency of migration from seeded area to the remainder of a pool and dispersal between pools was measured by the frequency of invasions by a taxon into three unseeded pools. These relative measures showed that Limnanthes alba had the highest dispersability; however, all Limnanthes taxa seemed to have a rather low dispersability. The observed patterns of distribution show that pools within a pasture have frequently only one of the Limnanthes taxa and often show a lack of sympatry. Low dispersability along with high persistence of local populations through seed carry-over and perhaps local habitat selection would account for the observed pattern of species distributions in vernal pools.

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