Puddles

February 2nd was International Wetlands Day. Reason to talk about biological pools. But today it’s more important to put our feet in the puddle. Because puddles are also wetlands, especially those that last for many weeks, even months, without losing their water. There we find living beings highly adapted to life in aquatic environment, whether plants or animals.

Among the few plants that can survive in these places, the water-starwort stands out. When puddles fills with water again in autumn, seeds of this plant take the opportunity to germinate and small stems with leaves and the little star of floating leaves at the tip of this stem quickly grow.

Underneath the carpet formed by plants we found larvae of newts and even salamanders. Last ones show that the puddle has good water quality, because pure raindrops filled a depression in the clay and, therefore, nothing is there that could have contaminated the water. In addition to the four-legged larvae already mentioned, tadpoles of frogs and toads also live there and on the bank we found a specimen of the Iberian green frog.

Some aquatic insects and their larvae complete the biocenosis in this pool. A small world full of biodiversity that only exists for a few months during the coldest season.