Zooplankton rely on passive dispersal of dormant eggs to move within landscapes. However, evidence suggests that although their potential to disperse may be high, their actual ability to disperse is poor. The majority of studies that have investigated the distribution of zooplankton have indicated that communities are heterogeneously distributed within the landscape, with different communities occurring among catchments, and between wetlands within catchments. These differences are likely to be driven by differences in the physical characteristics of wetlands. In this paper we explore the differences in zooplankton communities across different spatial scales and test the hypothesis that if dispersal of zooplankton is high, then the dormant egg bank of zooplankton should be similar between neighbouring wetlands. Results confirm that active communities across different spatial scales differ between wetlands at any given time. Similarly, examination of the dormant egg banks in neighbouring wetlands indicates that different communities are also present suggesting that the ability to disperse across large distances is poor.