Normally, insects might bug you (pun intended), but in your water garden, you get such a great variety of insects that it’s hard to ignore their grace and beauty. In fact, sometimes you want to sit up and take notice of the different varieties what they are and what role they take in your pond’s ecosystem.
Well, we hate to break it to you, but the role of insects basically involves being eaten by birds, frogs, and fish, but there are some who come to the pond and avoid the buffet. Dragonflies and damselflies, for example, are two of the most majestic and mysterious insects that seek out ponds. They come in a variety of sizes and colors and have several myths attached to them. Do they live only 24 hours? Nope, but they do have short life spans … some only surviving six months. Dragonflies are bigger and perch with their wings outstretched, while damselflies fold their up.
One of the best things about these cousins of the insect world is that they are great for mosquito control, munching up mosquitoes as if it were all-you-can-eat night at the local restaurant. In the nymph stage, farmers use dragonflies to eat mosquito larvae that are laid on the water’s surface.
Water boatmen are also useful little insects, known for chomping up algae and decaying plant matter from the bottom of the pond. Of course, they can only do their jobs when they aren’t being stalked and eaten by another insect, the water scorpion.
So bugs can be beneficial to your water garden, eating other bugs like mosquitoes and acting as a source of food for the other wildlife that visits your pond. So the next time you see a friendly bug swimming around in your pond, don’t forget to think about how they contribute to the ecosystem and please don’t let them bug you!
