Abstract
To explain the life-history strategies of temporary-water fauna, one must be able to describe the temporary habitat. It is necessary to know when it will be wet, how often this occurs, for what period each inundation lasts and what variability there is in this pattern. For logistics reasons one cannot follow each inundation in a pan for the ten years or more needed to establish a pattern. Based on the available inundation data for two seasons at Bain's Vlei Pan in a semi-arid part of South Africa, a model has been developed, using the rainfall pattern over ten years at nearby Bloemfontein, to predict inundation. Over a ten-year period preducted inundations ranged up to 87 days as a result of repeat-rain, with a mean period of 18.8 days, while a rain-episode of less than 20 mm was insufficient to inundate the pans. There was an average of 5.8 inundations per season. Single inundations do not exceed 20 days due to evaporation. When successive showers fall before periods of inundation are over, a specific extension of inundation is predictable. The precise implications of the inundation pattern on organisms requires much analysis. However, there are strong indications based on the growth, survival and pattern of egg-production among three species (Anostraca —Banchipodopsis tridens, Conchostracan —Leptestherialla inermis, and Notostracan —Triops granarius) from the pan and one species (Anostracan -Streptocephalus macrourus) from more permanent waters nearby, that the pattern of inundation is selective of the community held by the pan.
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Seaman, M.T., Kok, D.J. & Meintjes, S. The description and preliminary prediction of the inundation pattern in a temporary habitat of Anostraca, Notostraca and Conchostraca in South Africa. Hydrobiologia 298, 93–104 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00033804
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00033804