City Botanic Gardens - Pond and Mangroves Ecosystem

The City Botanic Gardens are known to be one of the most important, non-indigenous landmarks in Queensland. The City Gardens are placed on a land that stretches out about 42 acres, and are made up of man-made ecosystems including the pond and the rainforest. These two ecosystems have many similarities and differences on an ecological level. Although these ecosystems are man-made they still provide shelter and food for many organisms.

The pond ecosystem in the Botanic Gardens has many biotic factors. It is situated near the exit of the rainforest and is surrounded by many plant organisms such as lomandra and bamboo. The pond is also shadowed by two trees; the Bald Cypress and Red Lion Bark. Many plant organisms are also found within the pond such as duck weed, algae and water lilies. These plants provide food for the heterotrophs (organisms that eat other organisms) that occupy the area such as dragonflies, dusky moorhens, noisy miners and ducks. Other aquatic insects must inhabit the pond but none were able to be identified from the points of observation. In this ecosystem the number of autotrophs (organisms that are able to create their own food) highly outweigh the number of heterotrophs, although this could be affected by the season and time of day the pond was observed.

The rainforest ecosystem, on the other hand, consisted of an equal amount of animals and plants. This ecosystem ran parallel to the mangrove ecosystem that can also be found in the Botanic Gardens. Many Hoop Pine trees lined the walkway while the Golden Cane Palm and the Silver Date Palm trees were far more spread out and weren't in any particular order but were spread randomly. The Devil's Ivy lined the grounds near the roots of the other trees. There were a few macadamia trees that stretched out over the rest of the trees. All the trees in the rainforest area stretched high above the ground and created a canopy over the other surroundings. Not much light penetrates the canopy and in consequence the ground remained slightly damp. Many insects such as ants, flies, spiders and mosquitoes are found in this ecosystem and they are eaten by the larger animals such as the ibises.

Both of the ecosystems in the Botanic gardens receive sunlight. Sunlight is the main food source of any ecosystem and without the sunlight, ecosystems wouldn't exist. Most producers use the energy from the sunlight to turn air into glucose. This process is called photosynthesis. Both the pond