What Lives in Pond Water?
You’ve built a lovely little pond in your backyard, and you’ve stocked it with the fish and water plants that you want to have live there. All looks peaceful and serene, until the water starts turning murky and becoming stagnated. You might be surprised at how many living things have invaded your once pristine little pond. If you were to look at a drop of your pond water under a microscope you’d see that it’s literally teeming with life. Would you like to know what lives in pond water? Let’s take a look: Bacteria – It’s hard to believe that bacteria are the oldest lifeforms on earth and that they were responsible for putting the oxygen into the atmosphere that higher forms of life all needed to live. They are extremely minute creatures, and one drop of pond water could have more bacteria in it than the number of people who have ever lived on earth. Some bacteria are helpful, and others are dangerous. Protozoa – the term protozoa encompasses a diverse group of organisms that include amo
Let’s take a look: Bacteria – It’s hard to believe that bacteria are the oldest lifeforms on earth and that they were responsible for putting the oxygen into the atmosphere that higher forms of life all needed to live. They are extremely minute creatures, and one drop of pond water could have more bacteria in it than the number of people who have ever lived on earth. Some bacteria are helpful, and others are dangerous. Protozoa – the term protozoa encompasses a diverse group of organisms that include amoeba, flagellates, various forms of ciliates, and heliozoans. This group of organisms varies a lot in shape, size, habits, and features. Protozoa are more animal-like than bacteria but are neither plants or animals. Some protozoans swim and others are stationary. They have chloroplasts that transform light into energy and then store the energy in storage grains. Algae – these simple plant organisms are present in all wet environments. They can be so tiny that they’re hard to pick up on a
