Pond life: facts about pond habitats, plants and animals

Amphibians spend their larval stages in a pond and then as adults move between land and water, often spending the day hidden under logs.

Some amphibians, such as common toads, hardly visit ponds except to lay eggs, whereas smooth newts spend much of early summer in a pond before creeping out to hunt invertebrates in long vegetation.

The newts and toads hibernate out of the water, under logs and stones. Frogs also usually hibernate on land, but some will spend winter at the bottom of deep ponds. They like to bury themselves under soil and debris.

Did you know?

One third of all UK ponds are thought to have disappeared in the past 50 years or so. This has had an enormous effect on wildlife, particularly frogs, toads and newts, which need ponds to breed. If ponds disappear, so do these popular amphibians.

Plants have also adapted to pond life.

The abundance of water means some aquatic plants have abandoned conventional root structures - for example, hornwort only has stems and feathery leaves.

Floating plants such as water lilies use the water's surface to support large leaves that can be kept well away from the shadow of plants around the water's edge.

Water soldiers change the amount of gas in their leaves to sink to the bottom of the pond over winter and then rise up to the surface in summer to flower.

Emergent plants are rooted to the bottom of the pond, but their stems and leaves stick out of the water. Marginal plants grow in damp conditions at the edges of ponds and can cope with rising and falling water levels, even able to spend some time totally submerged.

Some emergent and marginal plants circulate extra oxygen to the silt around their roots to kill anaerobic bacteria and avoid deadly anoxic conditions.

Yellow flag irises have swollen, water-storing stems that allow the plant to survive even if a pond temporarily dries out.

Many aquatic plant species provide micro-habitats for invertebrates, amphibians, birds and mammals. For example, marginal plants such as reeds, rushes, yellow flag iris and water mint provide shelter for amphibians. Floating plants such as water lilies provide places for damselflies to lay their eggs. Submerged aquatic plants such as hornwort and water starwort provide food and shelter for water snails.

The history of ponds: how does this habitat form and change over time?

Ponds were around long before humans, so how did they arise naturally?

In the past, without human influence (but possibly with help from the odd beaver or other ecosystem engineer), rivers rarely stayed on the same course for long. Instead, they meandered, flooded and left pools as they changed their route. 

Geological features (such as dips or hollows in rocks or soils that can hold water) can create ponds, as can the movement of glaciers. They are part of bog and fen landscapes too.

Humans have also created many ponds throughout history, especially when raising livestock in areas that do not naturally collect water, such as on chalk hills - these are known as dew ponds. Other artificial ponds include defensive moats, fish ponds, and mill ponds. They can also form where clay, sand and gravel are dug out for use as building and road surface materials.