Basic aquatic plant productivity including that from algae cascades nutrients up the food chain to zooplankton then invertebrates then fish aka a simple food chain. The full complex of various sections or components and the many interactions of all the parts of the cycle is called the food web of the pond or lake. Look up food webs which can be terrestrial or aquatic.
Basically when one reduces, by any means or method, the basic or bottom PLANT part of the food chain(web) everything on each feeding level above that nutrient or feeding level is reduced by often 10 times. The plant component is called basic productivity because every food level above plant is dependent on the overall amount of plants available to the grazers (second lever feeders). Each upper level or layer supports about 10 times less biomass.
http://texasaquaticscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/C5_fig_5.4jpg-aquatic-science-texas.jpgPond dye is intended or designed to reduce sunlight penetration into the pond similar to heavily shading your grass or garden. With reduced light less plant growth occurs. Less plant growth equals less animal growth. However this can be compensated in ponds by feeding fish who then rely on external fish food instead of the natural foods produced within the pond.
