A Walk Around the Pond: Insects In and Over the Water

Introduces the aquatic insects that have colonised ponds, lakes, streams and rivers, especially those in North America. This book helps us learn about the diverse forms these arthropods take, as well as their remarkable modes of life, and how they have radiated into every imaginable niche in the water environment. We encounter the caddis fly larva building its protective case and camouflaging it with stream detritus; green darner dragonflies mating midair in an acrobatic wheel formation; ants that have adapted to the tiny water environment within a pitcher plant; and insects whose adaptations to the aquatic lifestyle are furnishing biomaterials engineers with ideas for future applications in industry and consumer goods. While learning about the evolution, natural history and ecology of these insects, readers also discover more than a little about the scientists who study them.