Freshwater environments support terrestrial ecosystems.

Producers (left) gain energy from the sun and fix it as living matter.  Herbivores
eat plant matter and convert it to a source of food rich in protein and devoid of cellulose.
Carnivores, many of them insects, consume creatures at a lower trophic level and 
produce sizable larvae which, when adults, leave the aquatic environment and
to on to feed many of the birds that inhabit the area for miles around the water.

How aquatic ecosystems supply food to terrestrial species such as birds.

They say diversity is the spice of life.  It turns out it is also necessary for a healthy ecosystem.  The number of living things, both in diversity and count, in freshwater is stunning.  Fill a glass jar with water from a healthy pond, and you will see what I mean.  And that's just the stuff you can see.  On the microscopic level, it's even more impressive.

There are few creatures above the waterline that can benefit from this microfauna directly.  However, as the energy fixed by plants makes its way up the food chain, the individual creatures grow in number, size, and maturity.  When the aquatic insects reach adulthood, they often take flight and now live above the watery world from which they came.  These protein-packed morsels form the food for much of the terrestrial environment that they inhabit.

The dragonfly that the yellow-headed blackbird eats (lower right) came from a naiad (dragonfly larva) that has lived beneath the surface for a year or more.  Coming from an egg, it consumed its way up to adulthood, where it then transfers its mass and energy to the bird.  The bird, in turn, feeds young, gains weight for migration, and itself may become food for a larger predator.  Not only around the water body where it lives, but thousands of miles away where it flies to await the coming of the next spring.

The ability of a simple pond to feed an ecosystem, not only in the immediate area but even across the continent, is breathtaking.  And to think that we see these oases of life as barriers to housing, farming, or other forms of human development is a shame.  Instead, we should see a spectacle filled with life, and supporting life both locally and globally.  These ecosystems are important.  

It's too bad we haven't figured that out yet.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com