3rd European FreshProject “EUROPONDS”

There are thousands of ponds across Europe, from Lapland to Mediterranean islands and from remote areas to densely populated cities. Most of them provide habitats for animals like aquatic insects and others, even rare species. Ponds also contribute to habitat connectivity and enable organisms to cross the landscape in their function as “blue stepping stones”. Insects emerging from such ponds can be rich in both biodiversity and dietary energy. They provide food and essential fatty acids for terrestrial and avian consumers (bats, birds, spiders, lizards) and thus, important ecosystem services. However, the knowledge about the ecological role of emerging insects from ponds, and their contribution to biodiversity and dietary energy transfer to consumers of adjacent ecosystems is limited. With this project, we aim to fill this gap of knowledge answering some unresolved questions: how does the trophic status of ponds affect the biodiversity and energy content of emerging insects? How different are ponds from various regions, e.g., cities vs. remote areas, in supporting insect biodiversity? Such questions are to be answered through a highly collaborative network of around 80 young freshwater scientists within EUROPONDS.