by Julie Eklund
photography by Veero Der-Karabetian
Dr. Dan Merritt, professor of zoology, has been taking groups of students to a pond located at the Mary Vagle Nature Center in Fontana since September 1995 to clean it up and ensure its biological balance.
University of La Verne students started working at the pond when it was becoming eutrophic, or overgrown with algae and plants. The center had been using chemicals to kill the excess plants. When Dr. Merritt heard about the situation, he decided to help with the management of the pond naturally, without the use of pesticides.
In the fall, a preliminary analysis of the water was done. From the results, recommendations were made to the center about the upkeep of the pond.
During January interterm, Dr. Merritt’s aquatic biology class took a trip to the pond and spent a day studying its biological and chemical properties. They also removed an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 pounds of cattails to make room for new life.
Junior Rich Quesada, a student in the interterm class, said, “It was a great hands-on experience. It gave us an opportunity to visualize our studies instead of just reading about it.”
“I didn’t think anyone would want to go back, but after we got going with it, [students] were asking me right away when we’d be going back again,” said Dr. Merritt.
An acre in size and eight feet deep, the pond is home not only to plant life but also to a variety of fish, frogs, ducks and geese. It is located across the street from a housing development, in a borderland between the natural hillside and the streets and houses.
”It’s almost symbolic of how our [human] development is pushing up against natural areas,” Dr. Merritt said.
Rhonda Laugueson, a former student of Dr. Merritt’s, originally informed him about the problems of the pond. She works with a conservation agency through AmeriCorp, a program designed to give students volunteer jobs. Dr. Merritt was immediately interested in the project because marine and freshwater ecology and management are his areas of specialty. Although he had done pond work similar to this before, it had never involved making actual alterations.
“This is something new that reflects my growing interest in management as opposed to ecology,” Dr. Merritt said.
Mitchell Morris is doing his senior project on the preliminary assessments of the pond’s ecological balance and determined whether the water contained enough of certain key nutrients. This information was used in the recommendations for upkeep given to the center.
Morris enjoyed the project; it allowed him to do an assessment “like I would do in the real world.” Senior Lupe Alvarez is doing a senior project on the follow-up to the recommendations.
Students with an acute interest in the pond continue to make periodic return trips to clean out cattails and monitor the ecological balance of the water.
The most recent trip occurred Wednesday, when seven La Verne students, accompanied by Dr. Merritt, cleared out cattails which were starting to grow toward the middle of the pond. In some areas, cattails were blocking the oxygen flow in the water, leading to sulfur bacteria activity. According to Dr. Merritt, this results in the production of hydrogen sulfide, which is toxic to aquatic plant and animal life. Opening up the areas to freshwater allows for the re-circulation of oxygen.
The student response Dr. Merritt has received in the pond project has amazed him.
“This wasn’t a class, it was initiated by the students. I’m beginning to get a feeling that students today are a little more interested in doing service and volunteer work,” he said.
Julie Eklund
