Mesoaquatic Biodiversity

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Mesoaquatic Biodiversity

• By Dustin Van Kleeck, Chris Ponzio, Jamie
  Robbins, Jacob Hedke, Tatenda Madzima, and
  Michael Peck

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Five Components of Biodiversity

• Lilly Pads
• Water
• Minnows
• Turtles
• Cattails
• Mud
• Rocks
• Flower
• Algae
• Bacteria

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Structure of the Pond

• The flowers, and cattails and lilly pads have
  root systems deep in the bottom of the pond

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Structure Cont.

• Then a little above that is the floor of the
  pond, composed of mud and soil, which is made
  very fertile by feces of the turtles and fish.
  This is also where you will find rocks

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Structure Cont.

• Then, we move up a little more to the main water
  region of the pond, between the bottom and the
  surface, where we find minnows, turtles, stems of
  the cattails, lillypads, bacteria and algae as
  well as the water itself.

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Structure Cont.

• Now we move to the surface of the pond where
  lilly pads sit, turtles come up for air as well
  as sunbathe on rocks, bees feed on and pollinate
  the flowers, and flys and other insects go about
  there business.

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Structure Cont.

• At this level we also observe the bees and other
  insects
• The tips of the cat tails
• Oxygen, elements, and other nescessities of life.

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Structure Cont.

• The last component of the system is the
  parallelled curiosity between the life that
  exists in the pond and life that is on the
  outside looking in.

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5 Ecological Processes

• Photosynthesis taking place by the plants
• Pollination from the bees to the plants
• Sexual Reproduction by the turtles on the rocks
• Digestion by the fish, turtles and other animals
  in the area
• There is also evaporation taking place from the
  water to the clouds, then the clouds to the water

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Evaporation
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One other Ecological Process

• One other process is humans looking at animals in
  the pond, such as the turtle, and learning and
  admiring them, and possibly trying to understand
  what they are thinking and why they act like they
  do.
• Are the turtles thinking the same thing? It looks
  like they are looking and observing us just as
  much or more than we are to them.

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Eco-tour of the Pond

• We would like to let tourist of the pond try to
  understand the concept that the animals, for
  example the turtle, are not just inanimate
  objects, but living things that go about normal
  lives just like a human would.
• We examine these biotic systems with great
  curiosity but what we usually do not stop to
  realize is that the turtle (or any other form of
  life) is looking back at us with as much
  curiosity and intrigue as we show for them.
• These independent eco-systems may not be
  recognized as being in juxtaposition with our own
  sense of reality and existence, but ultimately
  they are intrinsically related and valuable to
  our own lives and well-being.