Pond as an agro-ecosystem

There are two main components:

a) Abiotic components: Abiotic components of pond consists of water, dissolved minerals, oxygen and carbon dioxide.

b) Biotic components: It includes producers, consumers, and decomposer and transformers.

On the basis of water depth and type of vegetation and animals there may be three zones in a lake or pond: littoral, limnetic and profundal.

• The littoral zone is the shallow water region, which is usually occupied by rooted plants.
• The limnetic zone ranges from the shallow to the depth of effective light penetration and associated organisms are small crustaceans, rotifers, insects, and their larvae and algae.
• The profundal zone is the deep water parts where there is no effective light penetration. The associated organisms are snail, mussels crabs and worms.

a. Producers:

• The main producers in a pond ecosystem are large and other aquatic plants such as Azolla, Hydrilla, Potamogeton, Pistia, Spirodella, Wolffia, Lemna, Eichhornia, Nympheae, Jussiaea etc. These plants convert the radiant energy into chemical energy through photosynthesis.

b. Consumers:

• In a pond ecosystem, the primary consumers are tadpole larvae of frogs, fishes and other aquatic animals, which consume green plants and algae as their food.

c. Decomposer and Transformers :

• When aquatic plants and animals die a large number of bacteria and fungi attack their dead bodies and convert the complex organic substances into simplex inorganic compounds and elements. These micro-organisms are called decomposers.
• The chemical elements liberated by decomposers are again utilized by green plants in their nutrition.