In week 16, we shared the floating boardwalk with third grade students from Eberwhite Elementary School. Some of their voices appear in this week’s video.

Predaceous diving beetle larvae, commonly known as “water tigers” were present in Black Pond, two weeks after an adult was observed. These critters eat pretty much any other animal they can bite, even tadpoles. In our sample tray, predaceous diving beetle larvae were observed eating the zooplankton, known as daphnia (water fleas).

The mosquito larvae entered the pupa stage. Mosquito larvae eat microorganisms, bacteria, and algae. As pupae, they do not eat. During both stages, these tiny flies do not breathe underwater. Instead, they will rise to the water’s surface and obtain oxygen from the air. Only female mosquitoes bite, they need blood nutrients for their eggs. But both male and female mosquitoes consume flower nectar and other sugars for their own survival. Adult males will live for about a week, while females can survive for about two. Caddisfly larvae were again seen in great numbers. It seems as if these critters are more abundant than in recent memory while the mosquito population seems lower. Fairy shrimp are still present. We’ll see how long they stay with us. Water striders appeared, skating on top of the surface of the water. Along the trail in the Black Pond Woods were millipedes galore. Although “milli-“ means 1000 and “pede” means feet, these arthropods have closer to 32 pairs of legs or so, for a total of 64 feet. Millipedes eat decaying organic material, like dead leaves. But they do occasionally enjoy a fresh salad of live seedlings. Stefan Szumko is a middle school science teacher by trade, an outdoor environmental educator by calling, and a homedaddy by choice. He can be reached at slugwhisperer@gmail.com. To view all the video pondcasts, visit his YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/slugwhisperer.