Click to Enlarge       Magnify a Pond by Martha Daniels Ponds and streams are watery worlds full of life. Dip in and see what you can find. A pond is a watery world that's full of life. Frogs and dragonflies leap and dive. Sunshine keeps energy flowing to plant leaves. Plants grow and animals eat plants. A food web happens right before your eyes! Ponds are amazing ecosystems. They are great places to visit and observe nature. It's fun to watch for birds that fly away as you get close. You can walk along the shore and see frogs jump and turtles slide into the water. And the mud around a pond often contains tracks of all kinds of animals. Maybe a deer or raccoon has been there. All of these animals need the water. Some, like the deer, bring their fawns and drink the water. Others, like birds and turtles, are here for the food and shelter. The frogs and dragonflies need water for part of their life cycle. Lots of animals also live in the pond. To learn more about them, try dipping into the water and bottom mud. You can empty the contents into a tub of clean water and see lots of fascinating creatures. Dip into the water Now use your strainer or net to scoop into the water. Dump what you catch into the tub or pan and add water to watch the animals move. Look for snails, tadpoles or crayfish. Water bugs might dart around the tub. Snails are great fun to find. Hold one by its shell and look inside at its foot. By using slime from the foot, snails can move all over the pond. To breathe, pond snails rise to the water surface and pull oxygen into a special sac. Many kinds of frogs lay their eggs in ponds, and the eggs hatch into tadpoles. Large green tadpoles may become bullfrogs or green frogs. The smaller ones with a red-tipped tails will be gray treefrogs. As tadpoles swim, they eat mainly algae and other plant material. Crayfish hide around rocks and sand during the day and are most active at night. Animals that are active at night are called nocturnal. Crayfish nibble on plants and eat some animals they find. They have very good camouflage and can be tricky to spot in the water. Water insects have many adaptations for surviving. Their young or larvae have gills for breathing underwater. As adults, they breathe air. Mayfly young, called nymphs, have three long tails, flap-like gills and claws on each foot for clinging to plants and rocks. Damselfly nymphs are larger than mayflies, but also have three tails. Dragonfly nymphs don't have tails and are much larger. Gear for Dipping You'll need wading shoes or mud boots. You'll also need some kind of scooper or dip net. You can use a kitchen strainer or the net from your aquarium. Bait shops and sporting goods stores often sell fine mesh minnow nets, or you can make your own dip net, using a coat hanger and old nylon stockingl. To observe what you find, you'll need some kind of shallow storage tub, bucket or dishpan. You can see the swimmers and crawlers better if it light colored. A white plastic spoon is helpful to move the animals around without having to touch them. If you don't have a magnifying glass, ask to borrow one. It will come in handy for seeing those tiny legs, tails, gills and other specialized parts that water animals use. To learn what you've found, look at the Pond Life Guide. Place the guide in a clear plastic bag so you can look at the photos without getting it wet. Finally, ask an adult explorer to go along with you. Warn the explorer that pond dipping is muddy business, but it always fun and interesting. Water bugs include waterboatmen and backswimmers. They are fun to watch swimming, but be careful. They have a mouth for sucking juices out of other animals, and they can cause a sharp pain if they bite. Water striders look like skating spiders. Giant water bugs can be 1 to 2 inches long. Late in the summer you can find some with eggs glued to their backs. Keep an eye on your tub to see if the water bugs are eating other animals. Some beetles live in the water, too. The young or larvae look nothing like their parents. Larvae are skinny, and some have a long, feathery tail. All are predators with mouths that can bite. Adult whirligig beetles are the black ones on the surface that swim around in crazy circles. Diving beetles have strong back legs for diving deep and catching prey. Many creatures live in the mud of a pond. Dip some muck or mud from the pond bottom and put it into your tub. Watch a few minutes, and you'll probably see lots of animals moving. You can also collect clumps of underwater plants or leaves and wash them off in the tub. With luck, you'll find a water scorpion. The number of animals you find also tells you how healthy your pond is. Make a list of what you found. If you have a mayfly, stonefly or caddisfly larvae, you did a great job! These animals are very sensitive and need clean water to live. Be sure to release all of your animals. Come back again soon to see what new animals you can find. Good greens Worms, insects, snails and small fishes live on the leaves of plants along the edge of a pond. Some animals and amphibians lay their eggs on the plants and birds may use them for nesting. Cattails often grow around ponds, usually in shallow water. They can reach heights of 6-8 feet. They spread seeds from their brown, sausage-like seedheads or generate new plants from their spreading roots. You may also find some arrowhead plants and horsetail rushes. Arrowhead plants have a leaf shaped like an arrow, and they have white flowers. Horsetails are actually very old plants from the time of dinosaurs, with a leathery, hollow stem. One of the tiniest plants is duckweed. It can look like a carpet of green on the water, but each plant is actually a small round disc. You'll find different kinds of animals and plants in spring than you might in summer or fall. Make trips throughout the year so you can learn what the pond creatures are doing during every season. Pond Life Guide Bullfrogs Bullfrogs are Missouri's largest frogs. They are green to olive brown and have a white belly. It's easy to recognize their deep Jug-o-rum call. They mostly eat insects and crayfish.     Red-eared Sliders Red-eared Sliders are the most common turtles near water. They often sun themselves on logs or rocks near the water's edge and splash into the water when startled. They eat aquatic plants and animals. Bullfrog Tadpoles Bullfrog tadpoles grow to more than 4 inches long and may take 14 months to mature into frogs. They are green with dark blotches on the upper body and tail.   Garter Snakes Garter snakes are often found under logs or rocks. They mostly eat earthworms, frogs, toads and minnows. Missouri has five garter snakes. The one shown here is the eastern garter snake. Gray Treefrog Tadpoles Gray Treefrog tadpoles are usually found in fishless ponds. These tiny tadpoles mature into small frogs in as little as eight weeks.   Northern Water Snakes Northern Water snakes are gray to reddish-brown, Some people call them banded water snakes. They bite to defend themselves, but they have no venom. They mostly eat fish, frogs and tadpoles. Crayfish Crayfish hide near rocks or in the sand during the day and are active at night (nocturnal). Their pincers can pinch you, unless you grab crayfish carefully by the back.   Pond Snails Pond snails eat decaying matter or algae that coats aquatic plants. They shred their food with a rasp-like tongue. Backswimmers Backswimmers swim with a backstroke, keeping their long, hairy legs up. They eat aquatic animals, and are able to fly from pond to pond.   Mayfly Larvae Mayfly larvae have moving, leaf-like gills on sides of their lower body. They have six hooded legs, long antennae and two or three long tails that may be webbed. Damselfly Nymphs Damselfly nymphs have three flat, oar-shaped tails set like a tripod. They mostly eat other insects, including mosquito larvae. In turn, they are an important food source for waterfowl.   Damselfly Adults Damselfly adults have large eyes and long, thin bodies. They hold their wings up when perched. Dragonfly Nymphs Dragonfly nymphs have a rounded abdomen. They can shoot water out the tail of their abdomen to propel themselves forward.   Dragonfly Adults Dragonfly adults have two sets of wings that allow them to maneuver like aerial acrobats. When they perch, they hold their wings out flat. Diving Beetles Diving beetles have hairs on their hind legs that help them dive deep and catch insects. They can trap air beneath their wings.   Dobsonfly Larvae Dobsonfly larvae have large, pinching jaws, six legs, two tails, two pair of hooks near their back end and paired cotton-like gill tufts that flutter in water. Giant Water Bugs Giant Water bugs grow up to 3 inches long and are the largest of the true bugs. They eat insects, tadpoles and small fish. Males carry the eggs on their back.   Mosquito Larvae Mosquito larvae often swim just below the water surface or hang upside down, breathing air through the "snorkels" in their tail. Water Boatmen Water Boatmen have front legs that look like oars. They are strong swimmers and flyers. They have tiny antennai near their rounded head.   Water Striders Water Striders are wingless and flat with long legs. They seem to skate over the surface of the water, usually in groups. Water Scorpions Water Scorpions can reach more than 2 inches long, but they are thin and stick-like. They gather air through a breathing tube at the end of the abdomen.   Whirligig Beetles Whirligig Beetles use their hind legs to skim the surface and dive. Their eyes have two parts so they can see below the water and above it. They release an odor when handled.   Plants Arrowheads Arrowheads have leaves shaped like their name that grow in clusters. Their stems are milky when broken.   Horsetails Horsetails grow up to 4 feet tall. Their leathery stems are segmented and can be popped apart at their joints. Cattails Cattails grow in bunches up to 9 feet tall. They have long, narrow leaves and produce seed packs that look like brown sausages.   Duckweeds Duckweeds are tiny plants that can carpet a pond. Look close and you'll see a round flat body, called a frond. Some may have tiny dangling roots.