Detritivorous freshwater animals in the Var (French department)

Nature Talk
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Hello.

With the help of my brother, I’m building a pond in the garden of our childhood home (where our mother lives) in Le Castellet, in the Var department. The goal is to accommodate the animals living in the garden and, at the same time, hopefully limit the presence of mosquitoes via predators (I know that a good number of them are aquatic).

Knowing that there will be a lot of dead leaves falling into the pond, I was wondering if there were any aquatic species in the area (and likely to come naturally) that could get rid of them. (I can also remove them, but firstly, I’m usually only at my mother’s house on weekends, and secondly, the seasons or the rainy days that follow one another are not ideal for working outdoors).

Same question regarding animal waste (dead bodies, excrement, etc.).

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Many fly larvae are detritivores and will find the pond very quickly. Notonecta is a good coloniser that is a predator, as are water beetles, adults and larvae. Asellus is a major detritivore in small ponds but it may not get there naturally.

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I have trouble understanding the connection between a predatory insect and a detritivorous diet.

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You said you want to

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That’s what I said in the first message, but I got the information I was looking for from that side (thanks anyway for the help).

However, let’s not forget the main question of my subject: Which species present in the Var department (southern France) feed on plant waste (especially dead leaves deposited on the surface of the water) and animal waste (corpses and excrement)?