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A lake in the mountains

Lakes and ponds

From the smallest pond (1m square) to the largest lake, this biome provides many opportunities for life to thrive. Because many of these bodies of water are closed environments, they often have self-contained ecologies, enabling some to become evolutionary microcosms. One such example is the African Great Lakes, where over a thousand new species of cichlid fish have evolved during the last 12,400 to 100,000 years.

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What grows here?

What lives here?

Mammals

Birds

Reptiles

Amphibians

Ray-finned fishes

Lobe-finned fishes

Lampreys

Insects

Arachnids

Crabs, shrimp and krill

Merostomata

Where you find Lakes and ponds

Map showing the location of the Lakes and ponds habitat

About Lakes and ponds

A lake is a body of relatively still water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land apart from a river, stream, or other form of moving water that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams, which are usually flowing. However most lakes are fed and drained by rivers and streams.

Natural lakes are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing glaciation. Other lakes are found in endorheic basins or along the courses of mature rivers. In some parts of the world there are many lakes because of chaotic drainage patterns left over from the last Ice Age. All lakes are temporary over geologic time scales, as they will slowly fill in with sediments or spill out of the basin containing them.

Many lakes are artificial and are constructed for industrial or agricultural use, for hydro-electric power generation or domestic water supply, or for aesthetic or recreational purposes.

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Ecozones

Ecozones where this habitat is found

Habitats

Other Freshwater habitats

Video collections

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