It’s a fabulous WATER SOURCE
A major benefit I noticed early on when creating Lagoons is they act as a water source for a huge range of insects. And this feature may explain why they appear to improve crop pollination too.
Twitter followers posted images showing wasps drinking from Lagoons, but I’ve also noticed honeybees frequenting them.
A comment here that I only just notice asks, aren’t Hoverfly Lagoons also mosquito farms? Well, this is one of the major reasons they will never be a popular method in countries across Africa and South America, because they would provide a home for a range of biting flies which transmit diseases to humans.
We’ve investigated reducing the numbers of mosquitos inhabiting Lagoons based more on the principle that they are not the focal species and may compete with hoverflies for microbial food. The major take home message is, ensure the surface of the water is covered with a thick layer of leaf-litter and this makes them less attractive and accessible to mosquitos. The leaf litter will still allow some pockets of water accessible to thirsty insects.
COMMUNITY LIVING IN LAGOONS
Hundreds of species use pools of water, here are a few of the beasties that we’ve come across during the project so far (under development, but see this page).