The Yellow Waterlily (Nymphaea mexicana) is not a morning flower. It stays closed until late morning or early afternoon, opens for a few hours, then closes again for the night. With its floating leaves, the water lily can collect light from the surface where it is much brighter than under the dark water. A spongy stem facilitates oxygen transport to the roots that are buried in the pond bottom where there is little oxygen. A cross-section of the stem can be seen in the photo.
The presence of the waterlily indicates that this is a fresh water pond. Pond turtles, frogs and a small alligator have been seen here. What you can't see are the myriad of small insects that spend part of their life cycles as aquatic creatures and are an important food link between the microscopic algae and zooplankton of the pond and larger creatures like fish and frogs. These include dragonflies, mosquitos, midges and beetles.
Dragonflies are voracious predators both in and out of the water. As an aquatic larva they eat tadpoles, insects and fish. During their life in the air, dragonflys can capture and eat hundreds of mosquitos per day. The dragonfly in the picture is the Seaside Dragonlet (Erythrodiplax berenice). They are abundant at CHEC and are unusual in that they can breed in salt water. They range widely in color from dark blue (usually the males) to bright yellow stripes. The dragonfly larva pictured has not been identified but it is not that of the Seaside Dragonlet.
