Pond Animals

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Pond Animals
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Zonation

• Life in a pond is correlated with its zonation
  into the littoral, limnetic, profundal, and
  benthic zone
• The greatest diversity is found in the littoral
  zone

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Invertebrate Life

• As in the stream macroinvertebrates are common
  lower level consumers
• They include
• Snails
• Water Bugs
• Damselfly Nymphs
• Dragonfly Nymphs
• Whirligig Beetles
• Predacious Diving Beetles

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Snails Water Bugs

• Snails are grazers that primary feed on algae,
  making them primary consumers
• Water bugs are major consumers of snails, making
  them secondary consumers

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Damselflies Dragonflies

• Damselflies and Dragonflies are both secondary
  consumers that eat a variety of prey
• They are sit and wait predators that have a
  hinged retractable mouth part that enables them
  to quickly capture their prey
• They breath in their abdomen by pumping water in
  and out. They can also eject water in this
  manner to escape predators.

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Beetles

• The Whirligig and Predacious Diving Beetles are
  secondary consumers that like the Damselflies and
  Dragonflies feed on a variety of prey

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Vertebrate Animals

• Pond vertebrates are a diverse group, including
  members of all the vertebrate classes.
• Some are restricted to water, like the fish,
  while others, like the amphibians, reptiles, and
  mammals, are more or less dependent on water.

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Fishes

• Fish one of the more mobile of animals in the
  pond and thus frequent all pond zones.
• The Centrarchids or sunfish, including green
  sunfish and large mouth bass are quite common

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Amphibians Bullfrogs

• Bullfrogs are a common pond inhabitant that feed
  on anything that can fit in their mouth.
• Their tadpoles are large and require two years to
  mature to the point of metamorphosis.

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Amphibians North Cricket Frog

• Cricket Frogs are common pond and stream
  inhabitants.
• They are small, take on a variety of colors and
  patterns
• When disturbed they jump into the water, turn,
  and return immediately to the waters edge

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ReptilesNorthern Water Snake

• Northern Water Snakes are common pond and stream
  habitats.
• They are brown and have a characteristic banded
  pattern that confuses novices into thinking that
  they are copperheads or water moccasins.
• They are a higher level consumer that feeds on
  fish.

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Birds Great Blue Heron

• The most ubiquitous of pond birds is the Great
  Blue Heron.
• They stalk their fish and amphibian prey as the
  they slowly walk in the shallows of the littoral
  zone.

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Plankton in the Limnetic

• Small microscopic autotrophs (phytoplankton) and
  heterotrophs (zooplankton) inhabit the limnetic
  zone of the pond.
• Here there is an abundance of available sunlight
  driving this community.

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Decomposers in the Benthic

• Decomposing organisms, from microscopic bacteria
  to macroinvertebrates like the crayfish, inhabit
  this zone.
• Some organisms may also have to have adaptations
  that increase their ability to acquire oxygen,
  like the blood worm.

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