A pond is a depression in the ground that is filled with water that remains year round. Ponds range in size from the artificial backyard projects about the size of a bathtub to bodies of water that are about the size of a football field. Ponds support a variety of animal and plant life, and are also used as recreational sites by people.

The difference between a pond and a lake involves size and water depth. A lake is big enough to have at least one beach (sand or rock that slopes down to the water) and contains enough water to generate waves from the wind that blows across the surface of the water. In contrast, a pond is usually too small for waves of any size to form. At the center of a lake, the water can reach depths of many hundreds, even thousands of feet (meters...