Under the environmental conditions of the Carpathian Basin we consider a water body as wetland if its average depth considering its surface is not more than two meters. With a water depth of more than two meters the appearance of marshland vegetation (e.g. reed) is definitely prevented from being able to grow above the water surface. In such cases for large lakes typical shore line, open water and deep water associations cannot be differentiated clearly. The open white waters of sodic pans are fairly shallow in general (20–50 cm); although under temperate climatic conditions such average water depth would allow for the establishment of rich floating, drifting and attached aquatic and marsh vegetation (macrofitons) the spreading of flora is heavily limited by the salt content, turbid character and regular drying up of these ponds. As a consequence of their shallow nature the temperature of the water follows quickly the changes of the ambient air temperature.
The colour of sodic waters vary from greyish-white to oil dark depending on the physical, chemical and biological factors. As a result of their alkaline nature, the mass of dissolved organic material is usually very high, causing a dark base colour (brown or black).
The light can penetrate the water to one or two cm (light-limited environment) only through the greyish-white turbid sodic water caused by the suspended mineral matter, which prevents the establishment of the primary biological producer photosynthetising algae. At he same time, millions of those algae ranging one to two micrometers in size may be found in a drop of water, which is unique in the alkaline waters. They are able to absorb the energy of light in the upper one or two cm layer and to produce organic material. These organisms are in limited numbers in other surface waters compared to larger algae.
Certain species of the invertebrate fauna are in large numbers both in the water, on the bed and on the shore. During the migration period thousands of waterbirds feed in the shallow water. How is this possible and what does this community live on? The solution can be found around the birds. From the faeces of waterbirds a large volume of organic and mineral substance enters the sodic waters. For example the geese and cranes are eating on the lowland plains (puszta) and cultivated areas surrounding the waters and they are visiting the sodic waters only for resting and as a night roost when they leave behind their faeces. In nutrient rich—eutrophic, hypertrophic—sodic waters those decomposition processes associated with external organic material often take over over composition processes (primary production: photosynthesis). The large amount of heterotroph bacteria, which play a crucial role in decomposition are consumed by unicellular organisms as well as small crustaceans (zooplanktons), already visible to the naked eye. Latter ones are consumed by those birds foraging by filtering the water (ducks and shorebirds) as well as predatory aquatic insects. The organic debris produced along the foodchain and sedimenting to the bottom is utilised predominantly by those organisms living on the bottom of the pond (zoobenthos). On the top of the food chain are the birds again, i.e. shorebirds get an important role since settling of of amphibians and fish are very limited in the sodic habitats due to regular drying up and high salt concentration.
The characteristic flora and fauna of sodic habitats tolerating the extreme ecological conditions consists partly of  these organisms specialised these waters tolerating the alkaline pH, partly of those creatures explicitely resistant to salinity and alkalinity. Competition between species is not typical, hence biotic communities of these ponds are controlled predominantly through physical conditions.
In black sodic waters the light can reach the bottom of the pond, thus, the food chain is similar to freshwater habitats. Algae communities can develop among the thick vegetation but the diverse fauna—which is based on the rich organic production—consists of characteristic sodic species.