Vernal pool
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Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are seasonal pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals. They are considered to be a unique type of wetland usual
Vernal pool with clay hardpan bottom, Vina Plains Nature Conservancy Preserve, California, United States
Vernal pool flowers, with different species occurring in zones related to soil moisture and temperature gradients formed as the pool dries out. Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, California.
Vernal pool in northern California
Small pond on the West branch panoramio
Anostraca
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Anostraca is one of the four orders of crustaceans in the class Branchiopoda; its members are referred to as fairy shrimp. They live in vernal pools and hypersaline lakes across the world, and they ha
Vernal pool
…Some salamanders also utilize vernal pools for reproduction, but the adults may visit the pool only briefly. Other notable inhabitants are Daphnia and fairy shrimp, the latter often used as an indicator species to decisively define a vernal pool. Other indicator species, at least in New England, are the wood frog…
Artemia salina 4
Male (top) and female (bottom) Eubranchipus grubii (Chirocephalidae): the female is holding eggs on her genital appendages.
Eubranchipus grubii in an ephemeral pond in a forest in Germany
San Francisco Bay Salt Ponds: the orange colour is produced by the presence of Artemia.