In Carolina, many lakes and ponds are dead. There's no foliage, no insects, no fish, needless to say what toxins have run into them over the years don't bear imagining.
Nobody bothered to plant them, Nothing thrives.
A few ponds have been well planted, with waterlilies in deep areas, the likes of arrow arums, arrowhead, aquatic iris, lizards tail, parrots feather in shallow waters, in the shallows.
Beavers dawdle around,The fish are as big as your leg, the tiddlers dither in the shallows... turtles, frogs, dragonflies and small insects scramble to exploit their particular niches... two places stick in my mind, cat tail lake, and neusoca lakes, both heavily planted, both bulging with species....
Aquatic plants create shade from hot sun, shelter from predators, places for fish fry to hide, in many cases provide various food for all levels of the food chain... they even improve water quality by extracting surplus fertility and toxins, aquatic iris having quite some reputation for taking up metal poisons....
Regards, Andy
