Use of rodeo® and X‐77® spreader to control smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) in a southwestern washington estuary: 2. Effects on benthic microflora and invertebrates

Abstract

AbstractIn August 1992, we conducted an intensive short‐term (within 119d)experiment in southern Willapa Bay, Washington, to evaluate the potential effects on mudflat benthic communities of herbicide control of smooth cordgrass, Spartina alterniflora Loisel. A mixture of glyphosate (Rodeo®; 4.7 L ha−1) and an associated surfactant, alkylarylpolyoxyethylene (AAPOE, X‐77® Spreader; 1 L ha−1) was applied aerially to three mudflat sites with invasive S. alterniflora. Sediment structure (grain size), edaphic microalgal biomass (chlorophyll a), and densities of benthic and epibenthic meiofauna and benthic macrofauna were sampled systematically in treated and adjacent control (untreated) plots 1 d before, immediately after, and 1, 14, 28 and 119 d after spraying. These mudflat biota showed no definitive differences in population trends that would indicate acute responses to the herbicide and surfactant applications over the 119‐d duration of the experiment. Two‐way ANOVA tests of differences in slope of linear regressions of mean plot microalgal biomass and invertebrate density of 19 taxa groups or species testing short‐term (2 weeks) and long‐term (17 weeks) trends in response to the experimental treatment tests indicated no significant (p < 0.1) treatment and only three site effects. Natural variability in the standing stocks (in the case of benthic microalgae) or densities (invertebrates) of most of the 19 indicator taxa prior to spray application was sufficiently high within and between treatment and control plots and among sites to preclude strong inferential tests of acute effects. Although differences in mudflat habitats (e.g., tidal elevation, sediment structure) inherent in the sites prior to treatment affect the power of our ability to test direct effects, there were no indications of either short‐ or long‐term effects on the mudflat community of aerially applying this concentration of herbicide and surfactant. This study did not explicitly address either sublethal or indirect ecological effects, such as associated with an observed decrease in the exotic eelgrass Zostera japonica, which might appear as a longer‐term, more subtle response by the mudflat community.