pond+ecosystems

Hi my name is Lulu. I am lucky enough to go to sixth grade in the [|Amigos School]. The main reason why I am doing this wiki is to tell children that don’t have an opportunity to get out into the wilderness about the life out there. I also want to talk to you about why you shouldn’t pollute nature. The topic of my wiki project is Pond Ecosystems.

Traveling by bus we, as a class, arrived at our destination. The sun was up high when we finally set out to [|Black Nook Pond]. We walked along a narrow path carrying boxes full of utensils such as sifters, spoons, a few cups, a medium sized container to put what we found in, a plankton net, a tester to measure the pollution of the water, a thermometer for the water, etc. There were many abiotic things. Some of them were: cool water that had many dead autumn leaves floating around in it; refreshing sun that was at that time taking a break from barbecuing us all, trash that drifted around aimlessly, and many other natural and artificial abiotic things. On this field trip we were required to bring assorted papers and books to refer to when needed. Half an hour before having to return to school we went to a lab and observed organisms under the microscopes. We drew what we observed and answered a few questions to obtain the information I am using right now.

I will now tell you more about pond ecosystems. Three decomposers that live in this ecosystem are lichen, moss and snails. Lichen looks like little leaves and they usually grow on trees and rocks. Moss is another decomposer that grows on rocks and trees, except this one looks a little hairy and puffy. There were snails all around the pond. These decomposers have hard round shells to protect them from predators. The inside is slimy.

Now I will tell you more about producers of the pond. There is duckweed, algae, and elodea. Duckweed is a clump of very small leaves and roots sticking out of the leaves, Algae can grow from being microscopic to a foot or larger; you can be swimming in a lake full of them and not notice. Elodea is usually bigger and its leaves come out of a stem that holds it together. All these get their energy directly from the sun.

The consumers are beetles, tadpoles, and frogs. Beetles have a shiny back cap that glitters in the sun; these also eat insects smaller than they are. In the pond under the murky waters lie many enormous tadpoles; these go from being an egg to a tadpole to a frog. Frogs are also a consumer that lives in the pond. These slimy creatures are born from eggs and eat flies that go by.

In this ecosystem, the energy pyramid works like this: first the sun gives energy to the producers, the producers (Algae, duckweed, and elodea) give energy to the primary consumers (theodworm, earth worms, midge larva) these give energy to the secondary consumers (damselfly nymph, snails). Finally the secondary consumers give energy to the tertiary consumers (tadpoles /frogs, toads, and predaceous diving beetle).

There are many other pond ecosystems in MA and all over the world. All are unique even though some have the same animals. In Black’s Nook Pond I learned about the producers, consumers, and decomposers by observing them closely under a microscope. I also learned about the pollution of the water and the air around us. Last but not least I learned how the animals in a pond ecosystems connect to one another creating a  food web and an energy pyramid. Something that concerned me was the pollution of the water. Now that I have gone on that field trip, I would like to encourage people to be more careful of the pollution we make. We are wiping out and killing many animals till they become extinct. Some of them don’t even exist any more. Over all, I enjoyed this field trip, and I think that more people should have the opportunity to explore nature and learn from it. We also learned about the history of Fresh Pond.