Big things come in small packages: why limnologists should care about small ponds

Abstract

There is a substantial, and increasing, body of evidence that small ponds are critically important in diverse landscapes around the world by providing habitat, processing carbon, and mediating hydrological and nutrient fluxes to other larger surface waters (rivers, lakes, coastal). They are also among the most abundant surface water bodies in many areas. In an urbanizing planet, ecosystem services provided by ponds may become even more important. However, they have been historically neglected by limnologists and including them in global analyses can still be problematic. We propose that more limnologists should include small ponds in research programs; and we argue that these are also ideal systems for teaching the next generation of limnologists as well as for engaging the public.

Zooplankton Diversity of a Sub-Tropical Small Urban Wetland of Meghalaya, Northeast India with Remarks on Spatial Variations

“…The small urban biotopes are recognized as keystone systems for the conservation of biodiversity (Céréghino et al 2008(Céréghino et al , 2014Vad et al 2017;Oertli 2018) despite vulnerability to severe threats of extinction and habitat degradation (Moss et al 2011). Mullins and Doyle (2019) remarked that limnology will benefit from a renewed focus on these water bodies as they provide valuable ecological services and are likely important hot spots of carbon transformations and carbon sequestration (Downing et al 2008;Céréghino et al 2014). The small wetlands are important for maintaining regional biodiversity in urban landscapes that have been highly modified but may not follow the general pattern of reduced taxonomic richness expected in highly modified urban terrestrial or aquatic environments (Hill et al 2017).…”

Zooplankton functional complementarity between temporary and permanent environments

“…Our results illustrate how small, temporary, and historically neglected environments can harbor a biological diversity that is still poorly understood, such as functional trait diversity. In this sense, this study points to the need for greater protection of small wetlands, especially temporary ones, given their importance in sheltering a portion of biological diversity not found in other environments (Hunter Junior et al, 2017;Calhoun et al, 2017;Mullins & Doyle, 2019).…”

Editorial: Freshwater sustainability and aquatic ecology in a fast-changing world

“…This phenomenon, referred to as "environmental obesity" by the author, could affect entire food webs, including human health by consumption of carbon-imbalanced food. In another global-scale perspective, Mullins & Doyle (2019) pointed out that small lakes and ponds have an ecological importance that is disproportional to their reduced sizes. Small lakes and ponds provide valuable habitat for local species and are very active biogeochemical cycling spots.…”

“…The authors call for special attention to human-made ponds to prevent eutrophication from spreading on landscape levels. Mullins & Doyle (2019) contend that scientists should not neglect these small aquatic systems in global analyses and extrapolations. In a related review paper, Cardoso et al (2019) discuss the role of aquatic sediments as sentinels of changes in aquatic and neighboring terrestrial ecosystems, reflecting key biogeochemical processes over time; the authors place a particular focus on the processing of carbon and contaminants.…”