Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 11, 2026
10:50
Rearing and Long-Term Maintenance of Eristalis tenax Hoverflies for Research Studies
Published on: May 19, 2018
14.6K
Artificial Pond Habitats Placed in an Australian Berry Farm Support Invertebrate Diversity Including Pollinating
Jelena Preradovic1, Romina Rader1, Blake M Dawson1,2
1School of Environmental and Rural Science University of New England Armidale New South Wales Australia.
Ecology and Evolution
|April 10, 2026
Summary
Artificial ponds can support diverse invertebrate communities and crucial pollinating flies, like eristaline flies, on farms. These simple habitats enhance insect biodiversity and offer a scalable solution for agricultural landscapes.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Entomology
- Conservation Biology
Background:
- Agricultural landscapes often lack diverse microhabitats for invertebrates.
- Artificial ponds may serve as essential breeding grounds for aquatic and semi-aquatic insects.
- Pollinating flies, such as syrphid flies (Diptera: Syrphidae), require water for larval development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the potential of artificial ponds as microhabitats for invertebrates in agricultural settings.
- To assess the role of artificial ponds in supporting pollinating fly populations.
- To compare the effectiveness of water-only ponds versus ponds with decomposed plant material.
Main Methods:
- Eight artificial ponds were deployed across four farm blocks on a commercial berry farm in New South Wales, Australia.
- Ponds were established as either water-only controls or contained decomposed blackberry plant material.
- Invertebrate taxa, including eristaline flies, were monitored for appearance, oviposition, larval development, and pupation over 43 days.
Main Results:
- A total of 40 invertebrate taxa from nine orders were recorded over the 43-day trial.
- 33 taxa colonized the ponds for the entire trial period, including three species of eristaline flies (Eristalis tenax, Eristalinus punctulatus, and Austalis copiosa).
- Eristaline fly eggs, larvae, and pupae were observed within 9, 17, and 38 days of pond deployment, respectively.
Conclusions:
- Artificial ponds can function as multifunctional habitats supporting diverse invertebrate communities.
- These ponds provide a simple, scalable method to enhance on-farm insect biodiversity.
- Artificial ponds effectively support the life cycle of pollinating eristaline flies, contributing to ecosystem services.
Related Concept Videos
01:19What is Biodiversity?
35.0K
Biodiversity describes the variety of living things at multiple organizational levels: genetic, species and ecosystem diversity. Species diversity includes all branches of the evolutionary tree from single-celled prokaryotic organisms, bacteria, and archaea, to the eukaryotic kingdoms: plants; animals; fungi; and protists. To date, there have been about 1.75 million species identified, and new species are discovered every week.
35.0K
02:07Conservation of Declining Populations
13.6K
Conservation of declining population focuses on ways of detecting, diagnosing, and halting a population decline. The approach uses methods to prevent populations from going extinct.
13.6K
01:24Freshwater Microbial Ecology
44
Freshwater systems such as streams, rivers, and lakes exhibit distinct physical and biological characteristics that influence their microbial communities. These environments are broadly categorized into lotic systems—those with flowing waters like streams and most rivers—and lentic systems, which include still or slow-moving waters such as lakes, ponds, and marshes.In lentic systems, phytoplankton drive primary production, generating autochthonous organic carbon. In contrast, lotic...
44
02:40Epiphytes, Parasites, and Carnivores
17.2K
Plants often form mutualistic relationships with soil-dwelling fungi or bacteria to enhance their roots’ nutrient uptake ability. Root-colonizing fungi (e.g., mycorrhizae) increase a plant’s root surface area, which promotes nutrient absorption. While root-colonizing, nitrogen-fixing bacteria (e.g., rhizobia) convert atmospheric nitrogen (N2) into ammonia (NH3), making nitrogen available to plants for various biological functions. For example, nitrogen is essential for the...
17.2K
00:58Symbiosis
38.8K
Symbiotic relationships are long-term, close interactions between individuals of different species that affect the distribution and abundance of those species. When a relationship is beneficial to both species, this is called mutualism. When the relationship is beneficial to one species but neither beneficial nor harmful to the other species, this is called commensalism. When one organism is harmed to benefit another, the relationship is known as parasitism. These types of relationships often...
38.8K