Seemingly conflicting conclusions because the ecosystem is very complex and interconnected. Every forage species has its pros & cons and how it performs with the other species in the pond/lake. Pond ecosystems are very complex systems. The more species that are present the more complex the pond becomes because everyone and most everything present interacts with each other.
A very similar complexity is all the components of the human body from chemicals, cells, organs to behavior which is why there are so many specialist doctors for humans. One has to carefully analyze or know someone to analyze all the options and the repercussions of using each species in a pond and how everything interacts. In many cases the average pond person and some 'experts' are not well capable of knowing all the consequences of every management action. Usually it amounts to GUESS WORK as in 'practicing' Medicine of using the best guess option.
One of the big negatives that I have seen with the gizzard shad(GSD) is when plankton becomes limiting, the GSD will begin foraging in the sediments for benthic algae, detritus and organic based sediment as food sources. Depending on specifics and morphometry of the pond/like basin, the bottom GSD foraging often leads to turbid water. Muddy, turbid water to the point of it strongly suppressing light penetration for plankton growth. Cloudy water then perpetuates due to bottom foraging shad, lack of plankton to properly feed shad, and this then impacts all the other pond members including the biggest bass in pond food web that directly and indirectly depend on phyto and zooplankton as the basis for productivity.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 01/24/17 08:45 PM.
