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 A Study of the School Pond 

A Lesson with Mr. Cilian Roden ……………...................................................…… 25.04.2001 

We were luck to have such a good teacher to study our wildlife pond with us.  
This is a summery of what we learned.  

  • 1. Animal life
    • 1. Fringe and aerial zone:- 
      •           Dragonfly, Mayfly
    • 2. On or near the surface:- 
      •           Waterboatman, Whirligig Beetle, Pond Skater, Water Measurer, Frog, 
      •           Ramshorn Snail.
    • 3. On the bottom:-
      •           Leech, Great diving Beetle, flatworm 
  • 2. Plants
    • 1. Emergent plants: 
      •           Bull Rush, Yellow Iris, Bog cotton
    • 2. Floating Plants: (with roots in soil / mud) 
      •           Water lily
    • 3. Floating Plants: 
      •           Duck weed
    • 4. Floating plants: 
      •           Plankton, Algae
    • 5. Submergent Plants:
      •           Canadian water weed 
  • 3. Taking samples -
    • Looking for Plants and Animals
      •           Two Mud samples - From the bottom
      •           A sample of Canadian Pond weed
      •           Animals in stones at edge.
      •           Snails under stones, What do Snails live on?

        •  
  • 4. To clean or not to clean the Pond
          Best to leave it Natural. If we cleaned off some of the algae we would be killing some very interesting pond life! If we wanted to clean the water we could do this with some barley straw in a net. 
 
  • 5. Living Chains
          Each living thing on the bog needs energy to survive. Plants such as bog Mosses, Bog Cotton and Heather's use the sun's energy to make sugar and starch. The leaves of these plants contain the food factories. Animals get their energy by eating plants or other animals. The food they eat makes them grow and makes energy to keep them active. The flow of energy from the sun through plants and animals links them together in a food chain. Animal carcasses and droppings decompose and rot with the help of maggots, fungi and bacteria. All the minerals released are recycled to feed a new generation of plants. Each animal uses its food as fuel and as body building materiel. Yet, only the plant, the very first link in the food chain can the food.  
6.Drawings -
          Diagrams of the pond 
          Wetland Food chains 
 
  • 7. Integration into other areas of the curriculum:
          English, Irish, Science and I.T. etc. 

Back to the Heritage Trail 

 
Back to The Wildlife Pond                                                                                  Martin Browne – 6th Class
SCOIL NÁISIÚNTA CARNÁIN 
BAILE ÁTHA 'N RÍ