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Pond Animals

Pond Animals. 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. Invertebrate Life. As in the stream macroinvertebrates are common lower level consumers They include: Snails

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Pond Animals

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  1. Pond Animals

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. 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.

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

  7. 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.

  8. 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

  9. 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.

  10. 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

  11. Reptiles:Northern 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.

  12. 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.

  13. 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.

  14. 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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