Ponds and pools are a common feature of our landscape - there are at
least ten times as many ponds as lakes in the UK - and they are also
important wildlife habitats. This book provides a comprehensive and
detailed account of these freshwater habitats.
The first chapter discusses what ponds, pools and puddles are, how they
differ from rivers and lakes, their origin - natural or man-made, the
different types of ponds and their abundance and distribution in
Britain.
A second chapter looks at ponds as ancient natural habitats that have
existed for millennia on the earth's surface. Ancient pond communities,
as preserved in inter- and post-glacial sediments, are compared with
modern pond communities. This chapter also examines the physical and
chemical environment of ponds, covering aspects such as size, shape and
depth, hydrology, oxygen and temperature.
Ponds, pools and puddles are important wildlife habitats; they are as
rich in species as rivers, and support rare and uncommon taxa including
about half of Britain's Red Data Book wetland plant and animal species.
The authors give a comprehensive survey of the variety of plant and
animal life for which ponds, pools and puddles are a habitat, with a
chapter each on plants, invertebrates, amphibians, and fish, birds and
mammals. The book discusses the importance of ponds to each of these
groups and the ways in which the organisms exploit ponds, describing
their habitats and major variations in life cycles.
The pond ecosystem and colonisation and succession are discussed in two
further chapters, before the final chapter, which is devoted to the
subject of conservation and how best to protect and manage ponds and
pond wildlife in Britain today.
In spite of their evident importance, ponds have been largely ignored by
freshwater biologists during this century. Ponds, Pools and Puddles
makes an invaluable contribution to raising awareness of these popular,
yet frequently underrated freshwater habitats, giving them the attention
they rightly deserve.
