Water snails are a cleaning weapon in biological pools, and so welcome. Almost all species feed on the so-called biofilm, a living film of microbes, algae and fungi growing above any surface as long as there is enough water. Snails have a strong muscle, a kind of "treadmill", which serves to move them above [...]

If we would do a survey among the owners of biological pools asking what are the most loved animals in their biological pool, the winner would be certainly the tree frog. Tree frogs are small frogs capable climbing in vegetation. Portugal has the privilege of hosting two different species of tree frog, the Mediterranean tree [...]

It is now, even now, on these slightly rainy nights, but not cold, when it is worth visiting the biological pool. It is not for bathing, the water must be little more than 13 ºC! Get ready with a lamp! This visit is to find out who lives in the biological pool. There are [...]

Many different species of aquatic plants planted in biological pools have one common name which is pondweed. They may be broadleaved, fully underwater, or only with floating leaves, thin-leaved and even combinations of thin-leaved and broad-leaved. A huge diversity! Pondweed, Potamogeton in scientific, is a genus of worldwide distribution, has representatives on all continents [...]

Coimbra Agrarian School has an ongoing research project to promote the conservation of endangered rare aquatic plants in Baixo Mondego and Dunas de Mira in the center of the country. “Charcas de Noé” aims to “actively contribute to increasing knowledge of the distribution and conservation status of rare and endangered aquatic plants in Baixo [...]