![Central City Park, pond, circa 1877 - DPLA - cc8aa37aab5110ef47c1df80638969a5](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Central_City_Park%2C_pond%2C_circa_1877_-_DPLA_-_cc8aa37aab5110ef47c1df80638969a5.jpeg)
A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or
artificial
Artificiality (the state of being artificial or manmade) is the state of being the product of intentional human manufacture, rather than occurring naturally through processes not involving or requiring human activity.
Connotations
Artificiality ...
, that is smaller than a
lake
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30%
emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their
ecology
Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...
from that of lakes and wetlands.
[Clegg, J. (1986). Observer's Book of Pond Life. Frederick Warne, London] Ponds can be created by a wide variety of natural processes (e.g. on
floodplain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
s as cutoff
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
channels, by glacial processes, by peatland formation, in coastal dune systems, by beavers), or they can simply be isolated depressions (such as a
kettle
A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a type of pot specialized for boiling water, commonly with a ''lid'', ''spout'', and ''handle'', or a small electric kitchen appliance of similar shape that functions in a self-contained ...
hole,
vernal pool
Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are seasonal pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals. They are considered to be a distinctive type of wetland usually devoid of fish, and thus allow the safe ...
,
prairie pothole
The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR; french: Région des cuvettes/fondrières des prairies) is an expansive area of the northern Great Plains that contains thousands of shallow wetlands known as potholes. These potholes are the result of glacier act ...
, or simply natural undulations in undrained land) filled by runoff, groundwater, or precipitation, or all three of these. They can be further divided into four zones: vegetation zone, open water, bottom mud and surface film.
The size and depth of ponds often varies greatly with the time of year; many ponds are produced by spring flooding from rivers. Ponds may be
freshwater
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...
or
brackish
Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...
in nature. 'Ponds' with
saltwater
Saline water (more commonly known as salt water) is water that contains a high concentration of dissolved salts (mainly sodium chloride). On the United States Geological Survey (USGS) salinity scale, saline water is saltier than brackish water, ...
, with a direct connection to the sea that maintains full salinity, would normally be regarded as part of the marine environment because they would not support fresh or brackish water organisms, so not really within the realm of freshwater science.
Ponds are usually by definition quite shallow water bodies with varying abundances of
aquatic plant
Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments (saltwater or freshwater). They are also referred to as hydrophytes or macrophytes to distinguish them from algae and other microphytes. A macrophyte is a plant that ...
s and animals. Depth, seasonal water level variations, nutrients fluxes, amount of light reaching the ponds, the shape, the presence of visiting large mammals, the composition of any fish communities and salinity can all affect the types of plant and animal communities present.
Food web
A food web is the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of what-eats-what in an ecological community. Another name for food web is consumer-resource system. Ecologists can broadly lump all life forms into one ...
s are based both on free-floating
algae
Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...
and upon aquatic plants. There is usually a diverse array of aquatic life, with a few examples including algae, snails, fish, beetles, water bugs, frogs, turtles, otters and muskrats. Top predators may include large fish, herons, or alligators. Since fish are a major predator upon amphibian larvae, ponds that dry up each year, thereby killing resident fish, provide important refugia for amphibian breeding.
Ponds that dry up completely each year are often known as
vernal pools
Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are seasonal pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals. They are considered to be a distinctive type of wetland usually devoid of fish, and thus allow the safe ...
. Some ponds are produced by animal activity, including alligator holes and beaver ponds, and these add important diversity to landscapes.
Ponds are frequently manmade or expanded beyond their original depths and bounds by
anthropogenic
Anthropogenic ("human" + "generating") is an adjective that may refer to:
* Anthropogeny, the study of the origins of humanity
Counterintuitively, anthropogenic may also refer to things that have been generated by humans, as follows:
* Human im ...
causes. Apart from their role as highly biodiverse, fundamentally natural, freshwater ecosystems ponds have had, and still have, many uses, including providing
water for agriculture, livestock and communities, aiding in habitat restoration, serving as breeding grounds for local and migrating species, decorative components of
landscape architecture
Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...
,
flood control
Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...
basins, general urbanization, interception basins for pollutants and sources and sinks of
greenhouse gases
A greenhouse gas (GHG or GhG) is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor (), carbon dioxide (), methane ...
.
Classification
The technical distinction between a pond and a lake has not been universally standardized.
Limnologists and
freshwater biologists have proposed formal definitions for ''pond'', in part to include 'bodies of water where light penetrates to the bottom of the waterbody,' 'bodies of water shallow enough for rooted water plants to grow throughout,' and 'bodies of water which lack wave action on the shoreline.' Each of these definitions are difficult to measure or verify in practice and are of limited practical use, and are mostly not now used. Accordingly, some organizations and researchers have settled on technical definitions of ''pond'' and ''lake'' that rely on size alone.
Some regions of the United States define a pond as a body of water with a surface area of less than 10 acres (4.0 ha).
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
, known as the "land of 10,000 lakes", is commonly said to distinguish lakes from ponds, bogs and other water features by this definition, but also says that a lake is distinguished primarily by wave action reaching the shore. Even among organizations and researchers who distinguish lakes from ponds by size alone, there is no universally recognized standard for the maximum size of a pond. The international
Ramsar wetland convention sets the upper limit for pond size as 8
hectare
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...
s (80,000
m2; 20
acre
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imp ...
s). Researchers for the British charity Pond Conservation (now called Freshwater Habitats Trust) have defined a ''pond'' to be 'a man-made or natural waterbody that is between 1 m
2(0.00010 hectares; 0.00025 acres) and 20,000 m
2 (2.0 hectares; 4.9 acres) in area, which holds water for four months of the year or more.' Other European biologists have set the upper size limit at 5 hectares (50,000 m
2; 12 acres).
In North America, even larger bodies of water have been called ponds; for example,
Crystal Lake Crystal Lake or Crystal Lakes may refer to:
Lakes
Canada
* Crystal Lake (Saskatchewan)
* Crystal Lake (Ontario), drain into the Lynn River, which drains into Lake Erie
United States
* Crystal Lake, California, a mountain lake in Nevada Co ...
at 33 acres (130,000 m
2; 13 ha),
Walden Pond
Walden Pond is a pond in Concord, Massachusetts, in the United States. A famous example of a kettle hole, it was formed by retreating glaciers 10,000–12,000 years ago. The pond is protected as part of Walden Pond State Reservation, a state par ...
in
Concord, Massachusetts
Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the conflu ...
at 61 acres (250,000 m
2; 25 ha), and nearby
Spot Pond
Spot Pond is a lake in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The pond is within the Middlesex Fells Reservation, a Massachusetts state park. It is almost entirely located within the boundaries of Stoneham, Massachusetts.
Spot Po ...
at 340 acres (140 ha). There are numerous examples in other states, where bodies of water less than 10 acres (40,000 m
2; 4.0 ha) are being called lakes. As the case of Crystal Lake shows,
marketing
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
purposes can sometimes be the driving factor behind the categorization.
![Central_Park,_The_Pond,_July_30_2020_06](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Central_Park%2C_The_Pond%2C_July_30_2020_06.jpg)
In practice, a body of water is called a pond or a lake on an individual basis, as conventions change from place to place and over time. In origin, a pond is a variant form of the word pound, meaning a confining enclosure. In earlier times, ponds were artificial and utilitarian, as
stew pond
A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. A stew needs to have raw ingredients added to the gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables and m ...
s,
mill pond
A mill pond (or millpond) is a body of water used as a reservoir for a water-powered mill.
Description
Mill ponds were often created through the construction of a mill dam or weir (and mill stream) across a waterway.
In many places, the com ...
s and so on. The significance of this feature seems, in some cases, to have been lost when the word was carried abroad with emigrants. However, some parts of New England contain "ponds" that are actually the size of a small lake when compared to other countries. In the United States, natural pools are often called ponds. Ponds for a specific purpose keep the adjective, such as "stock pond", used for watering livestock. The term is also used for temporary accumulation of water from
surface runoff
Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when th ...
(''ponded'' water).
There are various regional names for naturally occurring ponds. In Scotland, one of the terms is
loch
''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots language, Scots and Irish language, Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is Cognate, cognate with the Manx language, Manx lough, Cornish language, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh language, Welsh w ...
an, which may also apply to a large body of water such as a lake. In the South Western parts of North American, lakes or ponds that are temporary and often dried up for most parts of the year are called
playas. These playas are simply shallow depressions in dry areas that may only fill with water on certain occasion like excess local drainage, groundwater seeping, or rain.
Formation
![Mono_Lake_South_Tufa_August_2013_012](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Mono_Lake_South_Tufa_August_2013_012.jpg)
Any
depression in the ground which collects and retains a sufficient amount of water can be considered a pond, and such, can be formed by a variety of
geological
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Eart ...
,
ecological
Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...
, and human terraforming events.
![Niagara_Falls_Garden_2005](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Niagara_Falls_Garden_2005.JPG)
Natural ponds are those caused by environmental occurrences. These can vary from glacial, volcanic, fluvial, or even tectonic events. Since the Pleistocene epoch, glacial processes have created most of the Northern hemispheric ponds; an example is the
Prairie Pothole Region
The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR; french: Région des cuvettes/fondrières des prairies) is an expansive area of the northern Great Plains that contains thousands of shallow wetlands known as potholes. These potholes are the result of glacier act ...
of North America. When glaciers retreat, they may leave behind uneven ground due to bedrock
elastic rebound
__NOTOC__
In geology, the elastic-rebound theory is an explanation for how energy is released during an earthquake.
As the Earth's crust deforms, the rocks which span the opposing sides of a fault are subjected to shear stress. Slowly they def ...
and sediment outwash plains. These areas may develop depressions that can fill up with excess precipitation or seeping ground water, forming a small pond. Kettle lakes and ponds are formed when ice breaks off from a larger glacier, is eventually buried by the surrounding glacial till, and over time melts.
Orogenies
Orogeny is a mountain building process. An orogeny is an event that takes place at a convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin. An ''orogenic belt'' or ''orogen'' develops as the compressed plate crumples and is uplifted t ...
and other tectonic uplifting events have created some of the oldest lakes and ponds on the globe. These indentions have the tendency to quickly fill with groundwater if they occur below the local water table. Other tectonic rifts or depressions can fill with precipitation, local mountain runoff, or be fed by mountain streams.
Volcanic activity can also lead to lake and pond formation through collapsed lava tubes or volcanic cones. Natural
floodplain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
s along rivers, as well as landscapes that contain many depressions, may experience spring/rainy season
flooding
A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrolog ...
and snow melt. Temporary or vernal ponds are created this way and are important for breeding fish, insects, and amphibians, particularly in large river systems like the
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
. Some ponds are solely created by animals species such as
beaver
Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...
s,
bison
Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised.
Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Ame ...
,
alligator
An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...
s and other crocodilians through damning and nest excavation respectively.
In landscapes with
organic soil
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former term ...
s, local fires can create depressions during periods of drought. These have the tendency to fill up with small amounts of precipitation until normal water levels return, turning these isolated ponds into open water.
Manmade ponds are those created by human intervention for the sake of the local environment, industrial settings, or for recreational/ornamental use.
Uses
Many ecosystems are linked by water and ponds have been found to hold a greater biodiversity of species than larger freshwater lakes or river systems. As such, ponds are habitats for many varieties of organisms including plants, amphibians, fish, reptiles, waterfowl, insects and even some mammals. Ponds are used for breeding grounds for these species but also as shelter and even drinking/feeding locations for other wildlife. Aquaculture practices lean heavily on artificial ponds in order to grow and care for many different type of fish either for human consumption, research, species conservation or recreational sport.
![Staw_naturalny](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Staw_naturalny.JPG)
In agriculture practices,
treatment pond A treatment pond is intended to provide wastewater treatment to achieve a certain effluent quality. Ponds are depressions holding water confined by earthen structures.
Kinds of treatment pond include:
* Aerated lagoons rely upon mechanical aerato ...
s can be created to reduce nutrient runoff from reaching local streams or groundwater storages. Pollutants that enter ponds can often be mitigated by natural sedimentation and other biological and chemical activities within the water. As such, waste stabilization ponds are becoming popular low-cost methods for general wastewater treatment. They may also provide
irrigation
Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...
reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
s for struggling farms during times of drought.
As urbanization continues to spread,
retention ponds are becoming more common in new housing developments. These ponds reduce the risk of flooding and erosion damage from excess storm water runoff in local communities.
![Siddha Pokhari (Ta Pukhu ), Bhaktapur4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Siddha_Pokhari_%28Ta_Pukhu_%29%2C_Bhaktapur4.jpg)
Experimental ponds are used to test hypotheses in the fields of environmental science, chemistry, aquatic biology, and limnology.
Some ponds are the life blood of many small villages in arid countries such as those in sub-Saharan Africa where bathing, sanitation, fishing, socialization, and rituals are held. In the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
,
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
temple monks care for sacred ponds used for religious practices and bathing pilgrims alike. In Europe during
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
times, it was typical for many
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
and
castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
s (small, partly self-sufficient communities) to have
fish pond
A fish pond or fishpond is a controlled pond, small artificial lake or retention basin that is stocked with fish and is used in aquaculture for fish farming, for recreational fishing, or for ornamental purposes.
Fish ponds are a classical g ...
s. These are still common in Europe and in
East Asia
East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...
(notably Japan), where
koi
or more specifically , are colored varieties of the Amur carp ('' Cyprinus rubrofuscus'') that are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor koi ponds or water gardens.
Koi is an informal name for the colored variants of ''C. rubrofuscus'' ke ...
may be kept or raised.
In Nepal artificial ponds were essential elements of the
ancient drinking water supply system. These ponds were fed with rainwater, water coming in through
canals
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or river engineering, engineered channel (geography), channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport watercraft, vehicles (e.g. ...
, their own springs, or a combination of these sources. They were designed to retain the water, while at the same time letting some water seep away to feed the local
aquifer
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characterist ...
s.
[Traditional Ponds – The Water Urban-ism of Newar Civilization]
by Padma Sunder Joshi, Spaces Nepal, April 2018, retrieved 11 October 2019
Pond biodiversity
A defining feature of a pond is the presence of
standing water
Water stagnation occurs when water stops flowing. Stagnant water can be a major environmental hazard.
Dangers
Malaria and dengue are among the main dangers of stagnant water, which can become a breeding ground for the mosquitoes that transmi ...
which provides
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
for a biological community commonly referred to as
pond life. Because of this, many ponds and lakes contain large numbers of endemic species that have gone through adaptive radiation to become specialized to their preferred habitat.
Familiar examples might include
water lilies
''Water Lilies'' (or ''Nymphéas'', ) is a Serial imagery, series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionism, Impressionist Claude Monet (1840–1926). The paintings depict his Fondation Monet in Giverny, flower garden at Fond ...
and other aquatic plants,
frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...
s,
turtle
Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked tu ...
s, and fish.
![Young_pumpkinseed_sunfish](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Young_pumpkinseed_sunfish.jpg)
Often, the entire margin of the pond is fringed by
wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
, and these wetlands support the aquatic
food web
A food web is the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of what-eats-what in an ecological community. Another name for food web is consumer-resource system. Ecologists can broadly lump all life forms into one ...
, provide shelter for wildlife, and stabilize the shore of the pond. This margin is also known as the littoral zone and contains much of the photosynthetic algae and plants of this ecosystem called macrophytes. Other photosynthetic organisms such as phytoplankton (suspended algae) and periphytons (organisms including cyanobacteria, detritus, and other microbes) thrive here and stand as the primary producers of pond food webs.
Some grazing animals like
geese
A goose (plural, : geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family (biology), family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera ''Anser (bird), Anser'' (the grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (the black geese). Some o ...
and
muskrat
The muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus'') is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and habitat ...
s consume the wetland plants directly as a source of food. In many other cases, pond plants will decay in the water. Many invertebrates and herbivorous zooplankton then feed on the decaying plants, and these lower trophic level organisms provide food for wetland species including fish,
dragonflies
A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threa ...
, and herons both in the littoral zone and the limnetic zone.
The open water limnetic zone may allow
algae
Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...
to grow as sunlight still penetrates here. These algae may support yet another food web that includes aquatic insects and other small fish species. A pond, therefore, may have combinations of three different food webs, one based on larger plants, one based upon decayed plants, and one based upon algae and their specific upper trophic level consumers and predators.
Hence, ponds often have many different animal species using the wide array of food sources though biotic interaction. They, therefore, provide an important source of
biological diversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') lev ...
in landscapes.
Opposite to long standing ponds are
vernal pond
Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are seasonal pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals. They are considered to be a distinctive type of wetland usually devoid of fish, and thus allow the safe ...
s. These ponds dry up for part of the year and are so called because they are typically at their peak depth in the spring (the meaning of "vernal" comes form the Latin word for
spring
Spring(s) may refer to:
Common uses
* Spring (season), a season of the year
* Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy
* Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water
* Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...
). Naturally occurring vernal ponds do not usually have fish, a major higher tropic level consumer, as these ponds frequently dry up. The absence of fish is a very important characteristic of these ponds since it prevents long chained biotic interactions from establishing. Ponds without these competitive predation pressures provides breeding locations and safe havens for endangered or migrating species. Hence, introducing fish to a pond can have seriously detrimental consequences. In some parts of the world, such as California, the vernal ponds have rare and endangered plant species. On the coastal plain, they provide habitat for endangered frogs such as the
Mississippi Gopher Frog
The Mississippi gopher frog (''Lithobates sevosus''), also known commonly as the dark gopher frog, the dusky gopher frog, and the St. Tammany gopher frog, is a critically endangered species of frog in the family Ranidae (true frogs). The speci ...
.
Often groups of ponds in a given landscape - so called 'pondscapes' - offer especially high biodiversity benefits compared to single ponds. A group of ponds provides a higher degree of habitat complexity and habitat connectivity.
Stratification
![Lake_Stratification_(11)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Lake_Stratification_%2811%29.svg)
Many ponds undergo a regular yearly process in the same matter as larger lakes if they are deep enough and/or protected from the wind. Abiotic factors such as UV radiation, general temperature, wind speed, water density, and even size, all have important roles to play when it comes to the seasonal effects on lakes and ponds. Spring overturn, summer stratification, autumn turnover, and an inverse winter stratification, ponds adjust their stratification or their vertical zonation of temperature due to these influences. These environmental factors affect pond circulation and temperature gradients within the water itself producing distant layers; the
epilimnion
The epilimnion or surface layer is the top-most layer in a thermally stratified lake. It sits above the deeper metalimnion and hypolimnion. It is typically warmer and has a higher pH and higher dissolved oxygen concentration than the hypolimnion ...
,
metalimnion
A thermocline (also known as the thermal layer or the metalimnion in lakes) is a thin but distinct layer in a large body of fluid (e.g. water, as in an ocean or lake; or air, e.g. an atmosphere) in which temperature changes more drastically with ...
, and
hypolimnion
The hypolimnion or under lake is the dense, bottom layer of water in a thermally- stratified lake. The word hypolimnion is derived from the Greek "limnos" meaning "lake". It is the layer that lies below the thermocline.
Typically the hypolimnio ...
.
Each zone has varied traits that sustain or harm specific organisms and biotic interactions below the surface depending on the season. Winter surface ice begins to melt in the Spring. This allows the water column to begin mixing thanks to solar convection and wind velocity. As the pond mixes, an overall constant temperature is reached. As temperatures increase through the summer, thermal stratification takes place. Summer stratification allows for the epilimnion to be mixed by winds, keeping a consistent warm temperature throughout this zone. Here,
photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored i ...
and
primary production
In ecology, primary production is the synthesis of organic compounds from atmospheric or aqueous carbon dioxide. It principally occurs through the process of photosynthesis, which uses light as its source of energy, but it also occurs through c ...
flourishes. However, those species that need cooler water with higher dissolved oxygen concentrations will favor the lower metalimnion or hypolimnion. Air temperature drops as fall approaches and a deep mixing layer occurs. Autumn turnover results in
isothermal
In thermodynamics, an isothermal process is a type of thermodynamic process in which the temperature ''T'' of a system remains constant: Δ''T'' = 0. This typically occurs when a system is in contact with an outside thermal reservoir, and a ...
lakes with high levels of dissolved oxygen as the water reaches an average colder temperature. Finally, winter stratification occurs inversely to summer stratification as surface ice begins to form yet again. This ice cover remains until solar radiation and convection return in the spring.
Due to this constant change in vertical zonation, seasonal stratification causes habitats to grow and shrink accordingly. Certain species are bound to these distinct layers of the water column where they can thrive and survive with the best efficiency possible.
For more information regarding seasonal thermal stratification of ponds and lakes, please look at "
Lake Stratification
Lake stratification is the tendency of lakes to form separate and distinct thermal layers during warm weather. Typically stratified lakes show three distinct layers, the Epilimnion comprising the top warm layer, the thermocline (or Metalimnion): ...
".
Conservation and management
Ponds provide not only environmental values, but practical benefits to society. One increasingly crucial benefit that ponds provide is their ability to act as greenhouse gas sinks. Most natural lakes and ponds are greenhouse gas sources and aid in the
flux
Flux describes any effect that appears to pass or travel (whether it actually moves or not) through a surface or substance. Flux is a concept in applied mathematics and vector calculus which has many applications to physics. For transport ph ...
of these dissolved compounds. However, manmade farm ponds are becoming significant sinks for gas
mitigation
Mitigation is the reduction of something harmful or the reduction of its harmful effects. It may refer to measures taken to reduce the harmful effects of hazards that remain ''in potentia'', or to manage harmful incidents that have already occur ...
and the fight against
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
. These agriculture runoff ponds receive high
pH level water from surrounding soils. Highly acidic drainage ponds act as catalysis for excess (carbon dioxide) to be converted into forms of carbon that can easily be stored in sediments. When these new drainage ponds are constructed, concentrations of bacteria that normally break down dead organic matter, such as algae, are low. As a result, breakdown and release of nitrogen gases from these organic materials such as
N2O does not occur and thus, not added to our atmosphere. This process is also used with regular
denitrification
Denitrification is a microbially facilitated process where nitrate (NO3−) is reduced and ultimately produces molecular nitrogen (N2) through a series of intermediate gaseous nitrogen oxide products. Facultative anaerobic bacteria perform denitr ...
in
anoxic
The term anoxia means a total depletion in the level of oxygen, an extreme form of hypoxia or "low oxygen". The terms anoxia and hypoxia are used in various contexts:
* Anoxic waters, sea water, fresh water or groundwater that are depleted of diss ...
layer of ponds. However, not all ponds have the ability to become
sinks
A sink is a bowl-shaped plumbing fixture for washing hands, dishwashing, and other purposes. Sinks have a tap (faucet) that supply hot and cold water and may include a spray feature to be used for faster rinsing. They also include a drain to ...
for
greenhouse gas
A greenhouse gas (GHG or GhG) is a gas that Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorbs and Emission (electromagnetic radiation), emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse ...
ses. Most ponds experience
eutrophication
Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytopla ...
where faced with excessive nutrient input from fertilizers and runoff. This over-nitrifies the pond water and results in mass
algae blooms
An algal bloom or algae bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in freshwater or marine water systems. It is often recognized by the discoloration in the water from the algae's pigments. The term ''algae'' encompa ...
and local
fish kill
The term fish kill, known also as fish die-off, refers to a localized die-off of fish populations which may also be associated with more generalized mortality of aquatic life.University of Florida. Gainesville, FL (2005) ''Plant Management in Fl ...
s.
Some farm ponds are not used for runoff control but rather for livestock like
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...
or buffalo as watering and bathing holes. As mentioned in the use section, ponds are important hotspots for biodiversity. Sometimes this becomes an issue with invasive or introduced species that disrupt pond ecosystem dynamics such as
food-web
A food web is the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of what-eats-what in an ecological community. Another name for food web is consumer-resource system. Ecologists can broadly lump all life forms into one ...
structure,
niche
Niche may refer to:
Science
*Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development
*Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species
*Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...
partitioning, and guild assignments.
This varies from introduced fish species such as the
Common Carp
The Eurasian carp or European carp (''Cyprinus carpio''), widely known as the common carp, is a widespread freshwater fish of eutrophic waters in lakes and large rivers in Europe and Asia.Fishbase''Cyprinus carpio'' Linnaeus, 1758/ref>Arkive The ...
that eat native water plants or Northern
Snakeheads that attack breeding amphibians, aquatic snails that carry infectious parasites that kill other species, and even rapid spreading aquatic plants like
Hydrilla
''Hydrilla'' (waterthyme) is a genus of aquatic plant
Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments (saltwater or freshwater). They are also referred to as hydrophytes or macrophytes to distinguish them from ...
and
Duckweed
Lemnoideae is a subfamily of flowering aquatic plants, known as duckweeds, water lentils, or water lenses. They float on or just beneath the surface of still or slow-moving bodies of fresh water and wetlands. Also known as bayroot, they arose ...
that can restrict water flow and cause overbank flooding.
![Claude_Monet_-_Water_Lilies_-_1906,_Ryerson](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Claude_Monet_-_Water_Lilies_-_1906%2C_Ryerson.jpg)
Ponds, depending on their orientation and size, can spread their wetland habitats into the local riparian zones or watershed boundaries. Gentle slopes of land into ponds provides an expanse of habitat for wetland plants and wet meadows to expand beyond the limitation of the pond. However, the construction of retaining walls, lawns, and other urbanized developments can severely degrade the range of pond habitats and the longevity of the pond itself. Roads and highways act in the same manor, but they also interfere with amphibians and turtles that migrate to and from ponds as part of their annual breeding cycle and should be kept as far away from established ponds as possible.
Because of these factors, gently sloping shorelines with broad expanses of wetland plants not only provide the best conditions for wildlife, but they help protect water quality from sources in the surrounding landscapes. It is also beneficial to allow water levels to fall each year during drier periods in order to re-establish these gentile shorelines.
In landscapes where ponds are artificially constructed, they are done so to provide wildlife viewing and conservation opportunities, to treat wastewater, for sequestration and pollution containment, or for simply aesthetic purposes. For natural pond conservation and development, one way to stimulate this is with general stream and river restoration. Many small rivers and streams feed into or from local ponds within the same watershed. When these rivers and streams flood and begin to meander, large numbers of natural ponds, including
vernal pool
Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are seasonal pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals. They are considered to be a distinctive type of wetland usually devoid of fish, and thus allow the safe ...
s and
wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
s, develop.
Examples
Some notable ponds are:
*
Big Pond, Nova Scotia
Big Pond ''(Scottish Gaelic: Am Pòn Mòr)'' (2001 pop.: 47) is a community in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada on the south shore of Bras d'Or Lake. Big Pond is approximately in the centre between the communities of St ...
, Canada
*
Christian Pond
Christian Pond is a small freshwater lake in Grand Teton National Park in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The pond is known for its diversity of waterfowl including the trumpeter swan
The trumpeter swan (''Cygnus buccinator'') is a species of swan ...
,
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
, United States
*
Walden Pond
Walden Pond is a pond in Concord, Massachusetts, in the United States. A famous example of a kettle hole, it was formed by retreating glaciers 10,000–12,000 years ago. The pond is protected as part of Walden Pond State Reservation, a state par ...
,
, United States, associated with
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural su ...
*
Hampstead Ponds, London
*
Kuttam Pokuna
Kuttam Pokuna (twin ponds or pools) are well preserved old bathing tanks or ponds in Sri Lanka. This pair of ponds was built by the Sinhalese in the ancient Anuradhapura Kingdom. They form part of the Abhayagiri vihāra complex and are an example o ...
, Medieval artificial pond in
Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura ( si, අනුරාධපුරය, translit=Anurādhapuraya; ta, அனுராதபுரம், translit=Aṉurātapuram) is a major city located in north central plain of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central ...
,
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
*
Rani Pokhari
Rani Pokhari ( ne, रानी पोखरी; lit. queen's pond), originally known as Nhu Pukhu ( new, न्हू पुखू; lit. new pond), is a historic artificial pond located in the heart of Kathmandu, Nepal. The square-shaped tan ...
, 17th-century artificial pond in
Kathmandu
, pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia
, coordinates =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name =
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...
, Nepal
*
Rožmberk Pond
Rožmberk (german: Rosenberg-Weiher) is a fish pond in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic, next to the town Třeboň. It is part of the Třeboň fishpond system, and is the largest fish pond in the world.
Geography and parametres
It ...
,
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
See also
*
*
*
References
Further reading
* Hughes, F.M.R. (ed.). (2003). ''The Flooded Forest: Guidance for policy makers and river managers in Europe on the restoration of floodplain forests''. FLOBAR2, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. 96 p.
* Environment Canada. (2004). ''How Much Habitat is Enough? A Framework for Guiding Habitat Rehabilitation in Great Lakes Areas of Concern''. 2nd ed. 81 p.
* Herda DJ (2008) ''Zen & the Art of Pond Building'' Sterling Publishing Company. .
* W.H. MacKenzie and J.R. Moran (2004). ''Wetlands of British Columbia: A Guide to Identification''. Ministry of Forests, Land Management Handbook 52.
{{Authority control
Lacustrine landforms
Habitats
Bodies of water