Page 56 - Kansas Sportsman

AQUATICS

A HEALTHY POND ECOSYSTEM

By Collin Alfers

Ponds are not just bodies of water, growth area) within your pond and discourage excessive plant
they are thriving ecosystems that and algae growth. Structure subsurface is also extremely
require careful attention to main- beneficial to fish populations.
tain a healthy balance. Whether
you have a backyard pond or a Some pond vegetation provides cover for prey fish and sunken
community lake, understanding items such as tree limbs and boulders provide spawning areas
the balance of your water body and for different species, boosting survival rates. This structure, if
the importance of aeration and added, should be sunk or placed at different depths within the
herbicide treatments is essential for body of water to ensure options to the fish populations as water
fostering a vibrant and sustainable temperatures and thermocline levels change.
environment. In this article, we’ll
explore the key components of de-
With the overall structure of the pond completed you can
veloping a healthy pond ecosystem.
begin to focus on what is growing in your pond. In a healthy
pond ecosystem different aquatic plant species grow amongst
Collin Alfers, Pond and An often overlooked aspect of a each other, competing for resources and keeping each other
Lake Technician pond is the pond’s structure. This in check. Populations will rise and fall as nutrient load is added

will apply to people starting from
and removed from the water column and seasons change.
scratch and digging their ponds or dredging. Different shore
slopes promote different results. A slope that is too steep
More times than not noxious weeds will get out of control
will encourage bank erosion and cause the overall depth of
due to shallow water, summer water temperatures, or most
the pond to become shallow. A slope that is too gradual will
commonly excessive amounts of phosphorus from runoff.
encourage the growth of problematic species to overtake the
When your pond becomes overrun, human intervention may
pond and render it useless to human activities.
be required.
From our experience
We recommend herbicide treatments and aeration (either
weed and algae
diffused aeration or surface aeration depending on the depth).
growth are the two
Diffused aeration systems will be valuable in deeper ponds
largest complaints
(>8 feet) and surface aerators will work better in smaller, shal-
of pond owners.
lower water bodies.
A slope of 3:1 is
optimal for mitigat-
ing vegetative and During warmer time periods, ponds can naturally stratify into
algae growth. Light temperature-defined layers of water. A warm layer on the very
does not penetrate top of the pond provides premium growing conditions for
water as easily as air weeds and algae, then the colder unoxygenated layers below.
and will typically be This limits fish from being able to access the entire pond as
filtered out within a habitat and lends itself to more issues with ponds turning over
Pond with steep slopes that has
few feet depending become very shallow over time due and causing a low dissolved oxygen event.
on clarity. This slope to erosion. The shallow littoral zone
will minimize your has created a comfortable place for The point of an aeration system is that the device will “stir” up
littoral zone (primary noxious weeds and algae to thrive. the pond, breaking up those layers and providing oxygen to

56 THE KANSAS SPORTSMAN | SPRING 2024