A Field Guide to the Pond Ecosystem at the Watershed Center

An ecosystem is a group of plants, animals or microorganism communities. Pond ecosystems are unique. Ponds have low water with plants that grow completely across it. Ponds have little water and the bottom is all mud. Plants usually grow on the shore and do not grow in the middle of the pond. Ponds are smaller than lakes. Lakes are too deep for plants to grow in the water whereas in ponds can have plants grow in the water. The level of oxygen ponds builds up by day and goes down at night. Carbon dioxide builds up at night and goes down in the day. The water is filled with lots of Phosphate, Nitrates, Chlorides and Carbonates. Habitats in a pond are surface film, open waters bottom and shore. Some air breathing animals live in the surface film. Surface dwelling animals eat animals that die and float to the surface of the pond. In a pond the air temperature changes the pond temperature. Just like lakes ponds get their energy from the sun. The plants in the water take energy from the sun. In ponds the surface water absorbs the suns heat and warms the water below it faster. Pond are a very special ecosystem.

Collecting data about the biodiversity of the pond ecosystem is important. Biodiversity is one of the signs that the ecosystem is healthy. Biodiversity is so important because if you have a forest of all maple trees and a disease hits it'll wipe out the whole forest. This is bad because animals use trees for shade, shelter, and food. For example if there is a species of wolves, and they go extinct, elks could overpopulate and the trees they eat would die to aslo their prey might go extinct to and over time they will start to die to because there's not enough food. So this is why biodiversity is so important and makes a healthy ecosystem. The same thing is true for ponds this is why it is important to collect data about biodiversity. less ↑