Perry Pond (named in 1975 after Mary Ellen Perry, class of 1885) is a very eutrophic, artificial water body. The pond was created by the construction of an earthen dam in 1972 across Willow Creek, a small intermittent stream that flows east into the North Skunk River about a half mile past CERA.
Year filled: October 1972
Surface area: 13.7 acres
Watershed: 607 acres
Volume (1973): 119 acre-feet
Maximum depth (1973): 14 feet
Average depth (1973): 8 feet
Perry Pond has been a great resource for teaching and research. Ecology and Aquatic Biology classes use the pond to learn about aquatic ecosystems and to get hands-on experience with field methods used to study these habitats. Class and independent resaerch projects have included fish population surveys and stocking recommendations, basin mapping, water quality testing, and study of phytoplankton and zooplankton communities. More recent projects have focused on the impacts of the surrounding agricultural landscape on physical and biological characteristics of the artificial lake.
Pond Map
Species Lists & Identification Keys
Water Quality
- Secchi Dip-In Water Monitoring Program. Annual participation in the Kent State University Great North American Secchi Dip-In began in July of 2000. Each year student summer interns collect surface temperature, water depth, and transparency readings using a secchi disk at 5 locations in the pond.
- Other water quality data. Other sources of water quality data include student research papers. Contact Peter Jacobson [jacobsop@grinnell.edu] for these papers and associated data.
Fish Population Surveys (1972-present)
Fish population surveys have been conducted periodically since 1972. The surveys in the 1970s were most thorough and conducted using trammel and gill nets, hand seins, dip nets, electroshocking, and angling. The most recent surveys have been conducted by catch and release angling. Contact the CERA Manager for more information about and data from these surveys. Years available: 1972, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1980, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003. Data: Species, body length, weight*, age*.
Field Labs
Biology 201 Field Laboratory (Year(s) unknown). This field lab introduced students to techniques of limnology by preparing an environmental profile of Perry Pond and comparing it to the last profile compiled in 1980. The lab description (on file with the CERA Manager) includes: Fish catches: Spr 1973, Fall 1973, Spr 1974, Spr 1976, Spr 1979, Fall 1980. Invertebrate fauna: Plankton sampled using plankton nets and counted using sedgwich rafter slides; benthic fauna sampled using Peterson dredge and hand marginal samples over meter square areas; data available for 1979. Data: Average total organisms per collecting group; Spr 1979, Fall 1978, Fall 1979; categories include producers, zooplankton, plankton feeders, benthic carnivores, benthic carnivores.
