The creek path is quiet. Rocket points at a wide ring of cracked mud. "The pool was here in spring."
Raven checks her notebook. "I saw tadpoles here in Week 4. Now there is no water."
Nova lowers herself over the mud and scans. "Water is the fastest thing to lose," she says. "Who needed it most?"
Rocket frowns. "Frogs start their lives in water. Where did they go?"
Some living things use water for a drink. Others live in it.
Amphibians start life in water. Their eggs and young need a pond, pool or slow creek.
Many insects also start life in water. Their young live underwater before they grow wings.
Birds and mammals drink from ponds and bathe in them.
So a dry pond is not one change. It is a change for every living thing that used that water.
A pond can dry up from a hot, dry season. It can also dry up when people drain it or pave the land around it.
| Who used the pond | What they used it for | Likely response when it dries |
|---|---|---|
| frogs and other amphibians | a place to lay eggs and grow up | move if another pond is close, otherwise decline |
| insects with water-living young | a nursery for their young | adults may move, young in the mud decline |
| birds | drinking and bathing | adjust by using another water spot |
| mammals | drinking | adjust by walking to other water |
| water plants | the place they grow | decline, though seeds may wait for rain |
A dry pond leaves clues. Cracked mud shows where water sat.
Rings of dried plants show how high the water once came.
If you return after a rain, you might see whether anything comes back.
Scientists visit the same spot again and again. One visit is a snapshot. Many visits show the change.
| Statement | True or false? |
|---|---|
| Amphibians start life in water. | ? |
| A dry pond only affects fish. | ? |
| Cracked mud is a clue that water used to be there. | ? |
| One visit is enough to know how a habitat is changing. | ? |
You followed the water! Tomorrow a stranger shows up in the yard: a new plant.