{"id":157512,"date":"2023-08-08T11:04:16","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T09:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=157512"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:53","slug":"theres-more-in-the-university-librarys-sea-of-nourishment-than-you-might-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2023\/08\/08\/theres-more-in-the-university-librarys-sea-of-nourishment-than-you-might-think\/","title":{"rendered":"There’s more in the university library’s \u2018sea of nourishment\u2019 than you might think"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fish, brightly coloured dragonflies, a bunch of blossoming lilies, and micro-organisms. The pond at the university library is an oasis of flora and fauna. And it is all mostly thanks to a pipe.<\/p>\n

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The carp has no natural predators in the pond.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRonald van den Heerik<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Among the blooming white lilies, a carp\u2019s moustache occasionally pokes out above the water\u2019s surface. Moorhens (with yellow beaks and red foreheads) bob around them, while a coot (with a white beak and forehead) sits by her nest. Hovering just above the water\u2019s surface are red-eyed damselflies \u2013 light-blue damselflies with deep red eyes \u2013 and other small insects. A moth rests on the shore among typical Dutch swamp plants, including the yellow iris. Ecologist Garry Bakker from Bureau Stadsnatuur<\/em> (the Rotterdam Urban Ecology Unit) breaks open the seed pod \u2013 \u2018a kind of green bean\u2019 \u2013 allowing the seeds to fall onto the green shore.<\/p>\n

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The coot regularly makes a nest in the pond.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRonald van den Heerik<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

In 2018, the pond at the university library was drained<\/a> and dozens of fish died<\/a>. Now, however, the pond attracts a wide variety of animals and plants. Bakker calls the water a \u201csea of nourishment\u201d, full of plankton, algae (the brown, sludgy layer floating on top) and other micro-organisms. The pond\u2019s fecundity is largely due to a pipe that connects the pond to a nearby ditch: organic material and fish larvae slip through the pipe onto campus, and end up in this \u201crich reservoir of water.\u201d The carp can grow here in peace and safety, where they have no natural predators.<\/p>\n\n\t

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