By River and Sky Classes

What Lives in the Pond?

Klopfers' Pond

Our Lower School has focused on the theme of water for the 2012-2013 school year. In our S'math classes

(science and math together), we have been reading about pond life in our area. We have visited the pond

next door to our school and made observations. Peter Klopfer came and talked with us about the pond and

what lives there now and has lived there in recent years.!

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We decided that we could make a book about some of what we had learned. We have used the Drawing

Pad app to draw our pictures and the Book Creator app to build our book.!

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Our information has come from our observations, from Peter Klopfer, and from the following books and

websites:!

Enchantedlearning.com!

Wood Duck Facts for Kids at NatureMapping.org!

Food Chains at http://www.tgfl.org.uk/tgfl/custom/resources_ftp/netmedia_ll/ks1/science/hamshall/

food_chains/index.htm!

Pond Life: A Golden Guide by George K. Reid!

One Small Square: Pond by Donald M. Silver illustrated by Patricia J. Wynnerr!

Life in a Pond by Helen Mason illustrated by Gregg Rodgers!

North Carolina Bird Watching by Bill Thompson!

!

Water striders are insects. If

you look closely you can see

that they have 6 legs. They eat

small insects that fall into the

pond. They also eat larva.

They use their long middle

legs like paddles to move

along the surface of the water.

They are also called pond

skaters. They live on ponds

and slow streams. Water

striders can not see well

above the water or below the

water. That makes it easy for

birds and fish to catch and eat

them.!

The dragonfly is an insect. It can hover like a helicopter over the pond. It catches other insects in the air and eats them. Dragonflies lay their eggs in the pond. Young dragonflies are called nymphs. They live in the pond.!

Copepods are tiny. You need a microscope to

see them. They are like teeny tiny shrimp.

They have an exoskeleton and a lot of legs.

They use their legs to swim and to get food.

They eat algae and protozoa. Did you know

that they also eat bacteria?!

!

!

Tadpoles are small creatures that will turn into frogs. Tadpoles are soft. They can wiggle their tails and stay in place in the water.!Tadpoles grow into frogs in this order: The body grows bigger and bigger. Their hind legs start to grow. Then the tail starts to go away. Then they grow front legs.!

Frog eggs are laid in water.!

!

Frogs are amphibians. They

eat insects. They use their

long tongues to catch them.!

Frogs can

breathe

through their

skin.

Snakes can eat frogs.

So do herons and

some ducks.

Some people think toads are

frogs. They look a lot alike.

Like frogs, toads lay their

eggs in the water. Tadpoles

hatch from the eggs and turn

into toads. It takes time.

When they are grown they

live on land.!

!

American Toads are about 2

to 4 inches long.!

Newts are a kind of salamander. Salamanders are amphibians like frogs and toads. Newts eat insects, worms, snails, and small fish. !Newts lay their eggs in the pond. Some kinds of newts leave the pond when they get older. Some stay in the pond.!

Crayfish are omnivores. That means they eat plants and animals. They eat things like algae, water plants, insects, worms, and larva.!!

They are nocturnal which means they are awake at night.!!

They hide under rocks. That helps protect them from predators like big fish, water snakes, raccoons, and kingfishers.!

Eels are bony fish that look a lot like

snakes. Some people don't believe

that they are not snakes. There are

water snakes that live in the pond, but

they are reptiles, not fish like eels are.!

When they are little, eels

can get through small

cracks in the dam and into

the pond. When they grow

bigger, they can't get back

through the dam and have

to stay in the pond.

Catfish have sharp spines on their top and side fins.

Catfish can be good to eat.

People catch them to eat them.!

!

They have things that look like

whiskers that are called barbels.

They use their barbels to help

them find food. They can feel and

taste with their barbels.!

!

Catfish eat insects, worms, snails,

small fish, plants and more. They

look for food near the bottom of

the pond.!

Mud turtles are

omnivorous. They will

eat almost anything

they can catch. They

eat fish, worms,

insects, grubs,

tadpoles, and plants.

They even eat dead

animals they find.

They find food on the

pond bottom or by the

pond. They like to sit

in the sun, too.

Painted turtles eat all kinds of things. Some of the things they eat are snails, crayfish, leeches, insects, and tadpoles. They even eat dead animals they find. They can eat algae and water plants, too.!!

They spend a lot of time in the water. They like to sit in the sun on rocks and logs in the pond. Adults eat a lot of algae and plants.!

Snapping turtles bite! They eat plants,

small fish, frogs, insects, snakes, and

even ducks!

Wood ducks squeal instead of

quacking.

Here is what wood ducks eat: plants, nuts, fruit, insects, snails, tadpoles, and salamanders.

Mallard ducks eat

worms, frogs,

insects, snails,

and water plants.

Male mallards have bright colors with green heads, a white collar, and a bright yellow bill. Females have duller colors with brown feathers and bills.!

The great blue heron eats fish, lizards, frogs,

crayfish, and even insects. Sometimes it eats small

rodents. It wades in shallow water to find prey and

spears it with its long beak.!

We have seen a heron in the pond and in the creek

that feeds it.

Male kingfishers have bright colors.The belted kingfisher has!a call like a rattle.!!

Kingfishers sit on a branch and look for things in the water to eat. If it sees a small fish, it swoops down and catches it. Then it carries it back to the branch to eat.!!

Some of us saw a kingfisher flying over the pond.!

Geese make loud honking sounds. They have webbed feet that help them swim in the pond.!!

They eat mostly water plants and bugs.!

Beavers are rodents

with sharp teeth.

They can even cut

down trees with their

teeth. Sometimes

they build dams. !

They eat parts of

trees, water lilies,

and other plants.

Beavers can swim

up to 5 miles an

hour.!

Beavers eat tree

bark, leaves,

roots, and twigs.!

!

Beavers can slap

their tails against

the water to make

a loud sound.

Sometimes they

do it to warn of

danger.!

!

There used to be

beavers in the

Klopfers' pond,

but they left. !

!

Algae grows in the pond. It floats in the water. Some of the

animals that live in the pond eat algae. Too much algae is not

good for the pond. When there is too much algae, it is part of

eutrophication. The algae clogs up the pond. There is less

oxygen, and it is harder for other things to live. Water

washing into the pond with things like fertilizer and animal

poop in it makes too much algae grow.!

There are many other living things in

and by the pond. There are things

so small you need a microscope to

see them. There are lots of kinds of

plants. There are all sorts of worms,

insects, fish, snakes, and more.!

Life in the pond is all connected. Animals feed on other animals and plants. They need the animals and plants to live. It's all connected. When you have a group of things where one eats another and that one eats another, it's called a food chain. Here are some of the food chains in the pond.!

Food Chain!!

Snapping turtles can eat ducks. Ducks eat slugs. Slugs eat algae. Algae makes food from sunlight. Algae floats in the water of the pond.!Snapping turtles eat almost anything they can get in their mouths!

Food Chain!!

Herons eat frogs. Frogs eat copepods. Copepods eat algae.!

Kingfishers eat crayfish. Crayfish eat water striders. Water striders eat dragonflies that fall into the water.!

People eat catfish. Catfish eat minnows. Minnows eat

tadpoles. Tadpoles eat copepods.