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61-542: Koonung Creek Reserve is a linear park in the suburb of Balwyn North , Melbourne , Australia. It follows the path of the Eastern Freeway from Bulleen Road in the west to Doncaster Road to the east. The area has been green open space since before European settlement, being situated in a valley near the Yarra River . It was not formally declared as parkland as late as 1966, and its exact date of proclamation

122-493: A kettle hole, vernal pool , prairie pothole , or simply natural undulations in undrained land) filled by runoff, groundwater, or precipitation, or all three of these. They can be further divided into four zones: vegetation zone, open water, bottom mud and surface film. The size and depth of ponds often varies greatly with the time of year; many ponds are produced by spring flooding from rivers. Ponds are usually freshwater but may be brackish in nature. Saltwater pools, with

183-594: A combination of these sources. They were designed to retain the water, while at the same time letting some water seep away to feed the local aquifers . A defining feature of a pond is the presence of standing water which provides habitat for a biological community commonly referred to as pond life . Because of this, many ponds and lakes contain large numbers of endemic species that have gone through adaptive radiation to become specialized to their preferred habitat. Familiar examples might include water lilies and other aquatic plants, frogs , turtles , and fish. Often,

244-536: A deep mixing layer occurs. Autumn turnover results in isothermal lakes with high levels of dissolved oxygen as the water reaches an average colder temperature. Finally, winter stratification occurs inversely to summer stratification as surface ice begins to form yet again. This ice cover remains until solar radiation and convection return in the spring. Due to this constant change in vertical zonation, seasonal stratification causes habitats to grow and shrink accordingly. Certain species are bound to these distinct layers of

305-442: A direct connection to the sea to maintain full salinity, may sometimes be called 'ponds' but these are normally regarded as part of the marine environment. They do not support fresh or brackish water-based organisms, and are rather tidal pools or lagoons . Ponds are typically shallow water bodies with varying abundances of aquatic plants and animals. Depth, seasonal water level variations, nutrient fluxes, amount of light reaching

366-482: A former KTM rail line has been encouraged and maintained through public opinion. Convincing the Singaporean government of the land's value, the citizens of Singapore were able to turn a neglected KTM railway in to a linear park that now runs 10 km(6.21 mi) long and offers unique perspectives into Singaporean wildlife. Rail Corridor differs from the typical linear park in a way that promotes and integrates

427-440: A major higher tropic level consumer, as these ponds frequently dry up. The absence of fish is a very important characteristic of these ponds since it prevents long chained biotic interactions from establishing. Ponds without these competitive predation pressures provides breeding locations and safe havens for endangered or migrating species. Hence, introducing fish to a pond can have seriously detrimental consequences. In some parts of

488-984: A major predator upon amphibian larvae, ponds that dry up each year, thereby killing resident fish, provide important refugia for amphibian breeding. Ponds that dry up completely each year are often known as vernal pools . Some ponds are produced by animal activity, including alligator holes and beaver ponds , and these add important diversity to landscapes. Ponds are frequently man made or expanded beyond their original depths and bounds by anthropogenic causes. Apart from their role as highly biodiverse, fundamentally natural, freshwater ecosystems ponds have had, and still have, many uses, including providing water for agriculture , livestock and communities, aiding in habitat restoration, serving as breeding grounds for local and migrating species, decorative components of landscape architecture , flood control basins, general urbanization, interception basins for pollutants and sources and sinks of greenhouse gases . The technical distinction between

549-627: A pathway, trees and grass connecting different areas together. There are examples of this in some US cities and some Canadian cities, such as Saskatoon, Canada. Houses connected with linear parks are more common in suburban and rural areas where space is much less in-demand. A linear park system under development in Atlanta, Georgia is the BeltLine . Part of the foundation for this project consisted of reclaiming 22 miles (35 km) of unused rail trails. Totaling approximately 33 miles (53 km),

610-663: A pond and a lake has not been universally standardized. Limnologists and freshwater biologists have proposed formal definitions for pond , in part to include 'bodies of water where light penetrates to the bottom of the waterbody', 'bodies of water shallow enough for rooted water plants to grow throughout', and 'bodies of water which lack wave action on the shoreline'. Each of these definitions are difficult to measure or verify in practice and are of limited practical use, and are mostly not now used. Accordingly, some organizations and researchers have settled on technical definitions of pond and lake that rely on size alone. Some regions of

671-478: A pond to be less than 5 hectares (12 acres) in area, less than 5 metres (16 ft) in depth and with less than 30% with emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing the ecology of ponds from those of lakes and wetlands . Ponds can be created by a wide variety of natural processes (e.g. on floodplains as cutoff river channels, by glacial processes, by peatland formation, in coastal dune systems, by beavers ), or they can simply be isolated depressions (such as

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732-589: A regular yearly process in the same matter as larger lakes if they are deep enough and/or protected from the wind. Abiotic factors such as UV radiation, general temperature, wind speed, water density, and even size, all have important roles to play when it comes to the seasonal effects on lakes and ponds. Spring overturn, summer stratification, autumn turnover, and an inverse winter stratification, ponds adjust their stratification or their vertical zonation of temperature due to these influences. These environmental factors affect pond circulation and temperature gradients within

793-449: A result, breakdown and release of nitrogen gases from these organic materials such as N 2 O does not occur and thus, not added to our atmosphere. This process is also used with regular denitrification in anoxic layer of ponds. However, not all ponds have the ability to become sinks for greenhouse gasses . Most ponds experience eutrophication where faced with excessive nutrient input from fertilizers and runoff. This over-nitrifies

854-526: Is a cool and shady retreat from the nearby bustling streets. In Hong Kong , a prominent example of a linear park is the Avenue of Stars . Located at the waterfront surrounding East Tsim Sha Tsui , the Avenue of Stars is a 440-meter(0.27 mi.) promenade offering scenic views to the public. As a public amenity, the park provides much needed urban space to the dense city of Hong Kong. The walking road itself

915-526: Is dedicated to famous Hong Kong celebrities, and as such is an attractive tourist area lined with souvenir stalls at some sections. In addition to the dynamic waterfront location, the Avenue of Stars provides visitors a "front-row seat"(stand) to the Symphony of Lights , the world's largest light and sound show. It is also around this area that the famed Star Ferry can be observed and even ridden. In Singapore , wild growth and shrubbery that's taken over

976-641: Is funded almost entirely by park visitors, though it is operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation license agreement. Bloomingdale Trail in Chicago is the longest linear park in the Western Hemisphere , and the second-longest linear park in the world, with a length of 2.7 miles (4.3 km), just under Paris' Promenade Plantee at 2.9 miles (4.6 km). Bloomingdale Trial was created by converting an elevated portion of

1037-490: Is located near the corner of Wilburton Parade and Arama Street. Large open sections of the park are dog off-lead areas, while council local laws and a fence prohibit dogs close to the playground. A number of informal ovals are also located throughout the park. The main sealed pathway runs through the reserve from west to east as part of the Koonung Creek Trail and provides easy pedestrian and bicycle access to

1098-585: Is more than four times the size of Richmond Park , extending beyond Greater London's borders into the neighboring counties of Hertfordshire and Essex. A more recent example of a linear park is the Berlin Mauerpark , which was built on a part of the former Berlin Wall area and its adjacent former death strip. Planty Park , Kraków , Poland ). It encircles the Stare Miasto ( Old Town ) , where

1159-589: Is no universally recognized standard for the maximum size of a pond. The international Ramsar wetland convention sets the upper limit for pond size as 8  hectares (80,000  m ; 20  acres ). Researchers for the British charity Pond Conservation (now called Freshwater Habitats Trust) have defined a pond to be 'a man-made or natural waterbody that is between 1 m (0.00010 hectares; 0.00025 acres) and 20,000 m (2.0 hectares; 4.9 acres) in area, which holds water for four months of

1220-466: Is reached. As temperatures increase through the summer, thermal stratification takes place. Summer stratification allows for the epilimnion to be mixed by winds, keeping a consistent warm temperature throughout this zone. Here, photosynthesis and primary production flourishes. However, those species that need cooler water with higher dissolved oxygen concentrations will favor the lower metalimnion or hypolimnion. Air temperature drops as fall approaches and

1281-557: Is set aside as a civic amenity. The settlement Milton Keynes makes extensive use of linear parks, with nine different examples that include the flood plains of the Great Ouse and of its tributaries (the Ouzel and some brooks). In the UK, Milton Keynes ranked highest in a national comparison of open urban areas available to residents. In Greater London , Essex and Hertfordshire ,

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1342-474: Is the Prairie Pothole Region of North America. When glaciers retreat, they may leave behind uneven ground due to bedrock elastic rebound and sediment outwash plains. These areas may develop depressions that can fill up with excess precipitation or seeping ground water, forming a small pond. Kettle lakes and ponds are formed when ice breaks off from a larger glacier, is eventually buried by

1403-559: Is unknown. It remained relatively unaffected by suburban development in its immediate vicinity until the construction of the second stage of the Eastern Freeway in 1982. To provide some compensation for the significant loss of green space by the construction of the freeway, the Country Roads Board and the affected municipalities of Camberwell and Doncaster & Templestowe planted over 12,000 trees, primarily on

1464-543: The Amazon . Some ponds are solely created by animals species such as beavers , bison , alligators and other crocodilians through damning and nest excavation respectively. In landscapes with organic soils , local fires can create depressions during periods of drought. These have the tendency to fill up with small amounts of precipitation until normal water levels return, turning these isolated ponds into open water. Manmade ponds are those created by human intervention for

1525-746: The Boston Common and Public Garden (1837) to Franklin Park (Boston) , also known as the "crown jewel" of Olmstead's work in Boston. The project began around 1878 with efforts to clean up and control the marshy area which later became the Back Bay and the Fens . In 1880, Olmsted proposed that the Muddy River be included in the park plan as the current dredged into a winding stream and was directed into

1586-485: The Charles River . Olmsted's vision of a linear park of walking paths along a gentle stream connecting numerous small ponds was complete by the turn of the century, but never completed the section to Boston Harbor . The subsequent development of the automobile industry and roads severely disrupted the original concept. In recent years, prevalent examples of linear parks that have seen high levels of visitors are

1647-622: The Common Carp that eat native water plants or Northern Snakeheads that attack breeding amphibians, aquatic snails that carry infectious parasites that kill other species, and even rapid spreading aquatic plants like Hydrilla and Duckweed that can restrict water flow and cause overbank flooding. Ponds, depending on their orientation and size, can spread their wetland habitats into the local riparian zones or watershed boundaries. Gentle slopes of land into ponds provides an expanse of habitat for wetland plants and wet meadows to expand beyond

1708-585: The East West Link project. Proposed works for the project included widening the Eastern Freeway by one lane in each direction up to Tram Road. The City of Boroondara strongly objected to any potential for parkland to be used in the widening of the road reserve in numerous submissions in 2013 and 2014. The Koonung Creek Trail runs through the park from east to west along a fully paved 3m wide path. Separate gravel paths have been provided for pedestrians along certain stretches. A playground and public toilet

1769-850: The High Line in New York City and the Bloomingdale Trail in Chicago . The High Line in New York City is a 1.4 mile (2.2 km) long rail trail and greenway, having been built on a portion of a defunct rail line as well as constructed to have greenery all throughout. Like its Paris counterpart Promenade Plantee , the High Line has been transformed into a linear park that allows for activities such as sight-seeing and exercise, while being elevated. The High Line's annual budget

1830-669: The Lee Valley Park is a 10,000-acre (40 km ) linear park, stretching for 26 miles (42 km) long, much of it green spaces running along the flood plains of the River Lea from the River Thames to Ware , through areas such as Stratford , Clapton , Tottenham , Enfield , Walthamstow , Cheshunt , Broxbourne and Hoddesdon in an area renowned as the Lea Valley . Greater London's largest park, Lee Valley Park

1891-402: The biodiversity and ecosystem throughout—covering 93 different species—while serving as an excellent outdoor trail to get active in. Pond A pond is a small, still, land-based body of water formed by pooling inside a depression , either naturally or artificially . A pond is smaller than a lake and there are no official criteria distinguishing the two, although defining

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1952-555: The flux of these dissolved compounds. However, manmade farm ponds are becoming significant sinks for gas mitigation and the fight against climate change . These agriculture runoff ponds receive high pH level water from surrounding soils. Highly acidic drainage ponds act as catalysis for excess CO 2 (carbon dioxide) to be converted into forms of carbon that can easily be stored in sediments. When these new drainage ponds are constructed, concentrations of bacteria that normally break down dead organic matter, such as algae, are low. As

2013-550: The BeltLine will include a trail and light rail line on the existing tracks instead of a road. The vision of the BeltLine is to attempt to balance out resident demographics within the city, allowing for all associated to the BeltLine to benefit. In England , linear parks have also been created around waterways, especially in cities where the terrain is such that rivers and brooks have significant flood plains . Such land cannot sensibly be used for urban development and so it

2074-456: The Medieval city walls used to stand until the early 19th century. The park has an area of 21 ha (52 acres) and a length of 4 km (2.5 mi). It consists of a chain of thirty smaller gardens designed in varied styles and adorned with numerous monuments and fountains. The park forms a scenic walkway popular with Cracovians. In summer, sprinkled with ponds and refreshment stalls, it

2135-462: The North Balwyn side of the freeway. The works also included undergrounding Koonung Creek for 2.4 km to allow for construction of the freeway. These works formed the basis for the use of the area as parkland. The construction of the freeway through the area also sparked the commencement of a long-standing issue between local residents and the state government on traffic noise. Residents and

2196-510: The United States define a pond as a body of water with a surface area of less than 10 acres (4.0 ha). Minnesota , known as the "land of 10,000 lakes", is commonly said to distinguish lakes from ponds, bogs and other water features by this definition, but also says that a lake is distinguished primarily by wave action reaching the shore. Even among organizations and researchers who distinguish lakes from ponds by size alone, there

2257-556: The best conditions for wildlife, but they help protect water quality from sources in the surrounding landscapes. It is also beneficial to allow water levels to fall each year during drier periods in order to re-establish these gentile shorelines. In landscapes where ponds are artificially constructed, they are done so to provide wildlife viewing and conservation opportunities, to treat wastewater, for sequestration and pollution containment, or for simply aesthetic purposes. For natural pond conservation and development, one way to stimulate this

2318-518: The case of Crystal Lake shows, marketing purposes can sometimes be the driving factor behind the categorization. In practice, a body of water is called a pond or a lake on an individual basis, as conventions change from place to place and over time. In origin, a pond is a variant form of the word pound, meaning a confining enclosure. In earlier times, ponds were artificial and utilitarian, as stew ponds , mill ponds and so on. The significance of this feature seems, in some cases, to have been lost when

2379-542: The earliest example is the Emerald Necklace , which consists of a 1,100-acre (4.5 km ), or 445 hectare chain of parks linked by parkways (a broad, landscaped highway ) and waterways in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts , U.S. The name comes from the way the planned chain appears to hang from the "neck" of the Boston peninsula. This system of linear parks was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted to connect

2440-504: The entire margin of the pond is fringed by wetland , and these wetlands support the aquatic food web , provide shelter for wildlife, and stabilize the shore of the pond. This margin is also known as the littoral zone and contains much of the photosynthetic algae and plants of this ecosystem called macrophytes . Other photosynthetic organisms such as phytoplankton (suspended algae) and periphytons (organisms including cyanobacteria , detritus , and other microbes ) thrive here and stand as

2501-427: The entire park. Many frequent freeway bus services stop on the Eastern Freeway on ramp on the eastern end of the reserve. A small carpark is also accessible off Doncaster Road near the bus stop. The 285 bus provides the only direct access by public transport to the centre of the park. Unrestricted street parking is available along the entire length of the park adjacent to residential areas. Linear park Possibly

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2562-484: The fields of environmental science, chemistry, aquatic biology, and limnology. Some ponds are the life blood of many small villages in arid countries such as those in sub-Saharan Africa where bathing, sanitation, fishing, socialization, and rituals are held. In the Indian subcontinent , Hindu temple monks care for sacred ponds used for religious practices and bathing pilgrims alike. In Europe during medieval times, it

2623-423: The former Bloomingdale railway to this linear park, which features trees, flowers, plants, shrubbery, grass, light posts, and benches throughout. The greenway transverses through the neighborhoods of Logan Square, Humboldt Park, and West Town. In some cities, many linear parks run through residential areas. In this case, the front of the house will face the streets, while the back faces a small linear park containing

2684-556: The ground which collects and retains a sufficient amount of water can be considered a pond, and such, can be formed by a variety of geological , ecological , and human terraforming events. Natural ponds are those caused by environmental occurrences. These can vary from glacial, volcanic, fluvial, or even tectonic events. Since the Pleistocene epoch, glacial processes have created most of the Northern hemispheric ponds; an example

2745-539: The limitation of the pond. However, the construction of retaining walls, lawns, and other urbanized developments can severely degrade the range of pond habitats and the longevity of the pond itself. Roads and highways act in the same manor, but they also interfere with amphibians and turtles that migrate to and from ponds as part of their annual breeding cycle and should be kept as far away from established ponds as possible. Because of these factors, gently sloping shorelines with broad expanses of wetland plants not only provide

2806-516: The littoral zone and the limnetic zone. The open water limnetic zone may allow algae to grow as sunlight still penetrates here. These algae may support yet another food web that includes aquatic insects and other small fish species. A pond, therefore, may have combinations of three different food webs, one based on larger plants, one based upon decayed plants, and one based upon algae and their specific upper trophic level consumers and predators. Hence, ponds often have many different animal species using

2867-493: The local council have lobbied the state government for many years to improve noise attenuation measures, particularly on the stretch of the road in Koonung Creek Reserve. The lack of any artificial noise barriers, relying instead on small dirt mounds and vegetation, has resulted in noise levels well above the 63 decibel limit for new freeways. More recently, the reserve and surrounding parklands were involved in

2928-514: The pond water and results in mass algae blooms and local fish kills . Some farm ponds are not used for runoff control but rather for livestock like cattle or buffalo as watering and bathing holes. As mentioned in the use section, ponds are important hotspots for biodiversity. Sometimes this becomes an issue with invasive or introduced species that disrupt pond ecosystem dynamics such as food-web structure, niche partitioning, and guild assignments. This varies from introduced fish species such as

2989-514: The ponds, the shape, the presence of visiting large mammals, the composition of any fish communities and salinity can all affect the types of plant and animal communities present. Food webs are based both on free-floating algae and upon aquatic plants. There is usually a diverse array of aquatic life, with a few examples including algae, snails , fish, beetles , water bugs , frogs , turtles , otters , and muskrats . Top predators may include large fish, herons , or alligators . Since fish are

3050-409: The primary producers of pond food webs. Some grazing animals like geese and muskrats consume the wetland plants directly as a source of food. In many other cases, pond plants will decay in the water. Many invertebrates and herbivorous zooplankton then feed on the decaying plants, and these lower trophic level organisms provide food for wetland species including fish, dragonflies , and herons both in

3111-1001: The sake of the local environment, industrial settings, or for recreational/ornamental use. Many ecosystems are linked by water and ponds have been found to hold a greater biodiversity of species than larger freshwater lakes or river systems. As such, ponds are habitats for many varieties of organisms including plants, amphibians , fish, reptiles , waterfowl , insects , and even some mammals . Ponds are used for breeding grounds for these species but also as shelter and even drinking/feeding locations for other wildlife. Aquaculture practices lean heavily on artificial ponds in order to grow and care for many different type of fish either for human consumption, research, species conservation or recreational sport. In agriculture practices, treatment ponds can be created to reduce nutrient runoff from reaching local streams or groundwater storages. Pollutants that enter ponds can often be mitigated by natural sedimentation and other biological and chemical activities within

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3172-799: The surrounding glacial till, and over time melts. Orogenies and other tectonic uplifting events have created some of the oldest lakes and ponds on the globe. These indentions have the tendency to quickly fill with groundwater if they occur below the local water table. Other tectonic rifts or depressions can fill with precipitation, local mountain runoff, or be fed by mountain streams. Volcanic activity can also lead to lake and pond formation through collapsed lava tubes or volcanic cones. Natural floodplains along rivers, as well as landscapes that contain many depressions, may experience spring/rainy season flooding and snow melt. Temporary or vernal ponds are created this way and are important for breeding fish, insects, and amphibians, particularly in large river systems like

3233-482: The terms is lochan , which may also apply to a large body of water such as a lake. In the South Western parts of North American, lakes or ponds that are temporary and often dried up for most parts of the year are called playas . These playas are simply shallow depressions in dry areas that may only fill with water on certain occasion like excess local drainage, groundwater seeping, or rain. Any depression in

3294-460: The water column where they can thrive and survive with the best efficiency possible. For more information regarding seasonal thermal stratification of ponds and lakes, please look at " Lake Stratification ". Ponds provide not only environmental values, but practical benefits to society. One increasingly crucial benefit that ponds provide is their ability to act as greenhouse gas sinks. Most natural lakes and ponds are greenhouse gas sources and aid in

3355-476: The water itself producing distant layers; the epilimnion , metalimnion , and hypolimnion . Each zone has varied traits that sustain or harm specific organisms and biotic interactions below the surface depending on the season. Winter surface ice begins to melt in the Spring. This allows the water column to begin mixing thanks to solar convection and wind velocity. As the pond mixes, an overall constant temperature

3416-487: The water. As such, waste stabilization ponds are becoming popular low-cost methods for general wastewater treatment. They may also provide irrigation reservoirs for struggling farms during times of drought. As urbanization continues to spread, retention ponds are becoming more common in new housing developments. These ponds reduce the risk of flooding and erosion damage from excess storm water runoff in local communities. Experimental ponds are used to test hypotheses in

3477-493: The wide array of food sources though biotic interaction. They, therefore, provide an important source of biological diversity in landscapes. Opposite to long standing ponds are vernal ponds . These ponds dry up for part of the year and are so called because they are typically at their peak depth in the spring (the meaning of "vernal" comes form the Latin word for spring ). Naturally occurring vernal ponds do not usually have fish,

3538-515: The word was carried abroad with emigrants. However, some parts of New England contain "ponds" that are actually the size of a small lake when compared to other countries. In the United States, natural pools are often called ponds. Ponds for a specific purpose keep the adjective, such as "stock pond", used for watering livestock. The term is also used for temporary accumulation of water from surface runoff ( ponded water). There are various regional names for naturally occurring ponds. In Scotland, one of

3599-521: The world, such as California, the vernal ponds have rare and endangered plant species. On the coastal plain, they provide habitat for endangered frogs such as the Mississippi Gopher Frog . Often groups of ponds in a given landscape - so called 'pondscapes' - offer especially high biodiversity benefits compared to single ponds. A group of ponds provides a higher degree of habitat complexity and habitat connectivity. Many ponds undergo

3660-623: The year or more.' Other European biologists have set the upper size limit at 5 hectares (50,000 m ; 12 acres). In North America, even larger bodies of water have been called ponds; for example, Crystal Lake at 33 acres (130,000 m ; 13 ha), Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts at 61 acres (250,000 m ; 25 ha), and nearby Spot Pond at 340 acres (140 ha). There are numerous examples in other states, where bodies of water less than 10 acres (40,000 m ; 4.0 ha) are being called lakes. As

3721-517: Was typical for many monastery and castles (small, partly self-sufficient communities) to have fish ponds . These are still common in Europe and in East Asia (notably Japan), where koi may be kept or raised. In Nepal artificial ponds were essential elements of the ancient drinking water supply system . These ponds were fed with rainwater, water coming in through canals , their own springs, or

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