The annual drought makes these ponds unsuitable for fish, which wreak havoc if they find their way in from nearby waterways in flood time. As the water evaporates, its inhabitants squeeze into increasingly smaller spaces water quality declines as waste products, including carbon dioxide, increase and food gets harder to find. The still, shallow water warms quickly (which encourages speedy metamorphoses) but contains little oxygen. The wonder of ephemeral pools is that they are populated by animals that take this annual disappearing act in stride – animals that are prepared to dry up with the pond or to get out of Dodge (timing is everything), and therein lie many tales.Īn astonishing array of animals use ephemeral ponds as a place to drink, hunt, and breed, but an ephemeral pond is a challenging place to call home. These are the here-today-gone- tomorrowponds, the gather-ye-rosebuds-while-ye-may wetlands. In past years, Belted Kingfishers have gathered at the pond to enjoy the frog spectacle, too, but they’re a bit late this year, or maybe the pond is early.Įphemeral ponds are (most years) just that – ephemeral (they’re also called vernal or spring ponds, but because some hold water in fall instead of spring, “ephemeral” is a more inclusive term). She celebrated Easter at the Church of the Ephemeral Pond this year – a choir of peepers, wood frogs, and leopard frogs gave witness that there were, indeed, Easter eggs, but the BugLady didn’t see any. By now, many of these critters have whole BOTWs of their own at. The BugLady has been hanging out at the ephemeral pond again what follows is a revision of a BOTW from 2012 (different pictures, somewhat different cast of characters).
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