UAM | Discover the temporary lagoons. Help us protect them!

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Lagoons or temporary ponds are part of the natural landscape that surrounds our towns and cities. It is a natural heritage that provides innumerable benefits to society (regulation of local climate and runoff, mitigation of erosion and flooding, improvement of water quality, conservation of biodiversity, etc.). This activity is part of the Sustainable Development Goals: 6- Clean water and sanitation, 13- Climate action and 15- Life of Terrestrial Ecosystems; and within the European Green Deal (European Green Deal) in this activity we will refer to the serious loss of biodiversity transversally throughout the entire activity. The objective of the activity that we propose is to make temporary gaps known to the public: to transmit their importance and fragility in these times of global change. Before protecting, we must know. For this we have proposed a series of activities that we will focus on and adapt to the type of public that attends the activity, we have short-term activities and long-term activities. First, we will present the characteristics of temporary ponds, through a brief initial introductory talk supported by visual resources (Roll-up, posters, cards, etc.), and what we do in the research projects we carry out to protect them (ClimaRiskinPond and ResPond, based at the UAM). Short duration activities: The attendees will have the opportunity to learn about the high biodiversity that temporary lagoons harbor through direct observation in aquariums and graphic material. In addition, to complete this macroscopic vision of the inhabitants of the temporary lagoons, we will have a microscope with an associated camera where the public will be able to discover the microscopic life that a drop of water from the temporary lagoons houses. In parallel, for the most daring we have proposed a modification of the Twister game where we will change the colors for the main groups of aquatic invertebrates that we have seen before in aquariums (beetles, dragonflies, bugs and large branchiopods). This will allow us to learn by playing, which is always more fun. Lastly, to streamline the activity and check that the information we have told you has been internalized, there will be a test with cards of what is done right or wrong, indicating actions that can help protect temporary gaps in the immediate environment. These activities can be carried out simultaneously as people arrive and show interest in the different dynamics we offer. Long term activities: In the event that the activity is carried out in the Plaza Mayor of the Cantoblanco Campus, we propose as a complementary activity, for those attendees who want, a small “excursion” to the lagoon that the Sustainability Office has created on campus ( between the bus parking and the library of the Faculty of Sciences) where you will be able to see a live lagoon along with a brief talk about temporary lagoons and their biodiversity. This activity will have 3 or 4 passes of 30 minutes duration. In addition, we propose a gymkhana-sampling drill where the public who wants to participate will have to "sample" at different points scattered around the Plaza Mayor, guided by a series of tracks, in which they will have to identify and count all the macroinvertebrates that where they are (stickers, same images as the Twister) and fill in the data in the statement that we provide. This activity will have 3 or 4 passes of 30 minutes duration and at the end of the activity each participant will be given a small guide to identify macroinvertebrates in temporary ponds. The team that first completes all the samplings correctly in each pass will be presented with a magnifying glass to encourage the observation of nature and field trips. We will also take advantage of the activity to show the public the operation of our web page of the project that we have created where they can upload georeferenced photographs of temporary lagoons with an associated form, which will encourage hiking to simply observe these valuable enclaves. At the end, we will give them some cards with the address of the web page so that they can access it from home and a badge or sticker as a souvenir of the project and the activity.