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Herbiciding invasive reed: indirect effects on habitat conditions and snail–algal assemblages one year post-application

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An Erratum to this article was published on 24 April 2013

Abstract

Invasive common reed (Phragmites australis) can rapidly form expansive, near-monotypic stands, and thereby lower plant diversity and change marsh habitat structure. Consequently, North American wetland managers often use herbicides, such as glyphosate-based AquaNeat® and imazypr-based Habitat®, to control its establishment and spread. However, herbiciding might indirectly affect benthic community structure by directly altering habitat structure, and habitat alterations may vary with herbicide and concentration. These effects may be particularly pronounced ≥1 year post-herbiciding when dead above-ground biomass collapses and submerges. To evaluate how herbicide-caused alterations in habitat affect key trophic linkages, we compared snail and epiphytic algal assemblages, and habitat conditions, among 20- × 20-m replicated plots of reed treated with either AquaNeat® (30 % solution), Habitat® (5 % solution), or left herbicide-free (i.e., controls) in an eutrophic Lake Erie coastal marsh 1-y post-herbiciding. Both herbicides equally reduced reed above-ground growth by >90 % relative to controls. Fossaria spp. and Gyraulus parvus snails were more abundant in herbicide-treated plots than in controls, but Shannon-Wiener diversity was similar (H′ ≈ 1.0) across treatments. All snails collected were pulmonates, suggesting habitat drying might be driving assemblage structure. Snails were denser in plots with metaphyton (mostly Spirogyra) than without, and metaphyton was more abundant in herbicide-treated plots with higher incident light levels and warmer water temperatures than in controls. Snail biomass was positively related to amount of benthic macro-organic matter but not epiphytic algal biomass, which was similar among treatments. Diatoms dominated algal communities in all treatments. In June, Navicula spp. was dominant in controls, whereas Nitzschia palea and Aulacoseira italic, and Nitzschia spp., were dominant in AquaNeat® and Habitat® treatments, respectively. However, algal and diatom assemblages were similar in treatments by early-July when marsh water levels significantly decreased and nitrate levels were <1 μg/L. Marsh hydrologic patterns may mediate herbiciding’s indirect effects on trophic structure.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Steve Harvey and Mike Grote (ODNR, Division of Natural Areas and Preserves) for applying herbicides to experimental plots, Alex Wyatt for assistance collecting field data, and Frank Lopez of the Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve for use of the dormitory. The manuscript benefited greatly from comments from Stu Ludsin, Tom Watters, Douglas Wilcox, and an anonymous reviewer. This work was supported in part by a contract to JRH through award NA09NOS4190080 from the Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, administered by the Ohio Department of Natural Areas and Preserves through the Ohio Coastal Management Program, and was done in partial fulfillment of requirements for a MSc. Degree at The Ohio State University.

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  1. Christina L. Back

    Present address: The McGraw-Hill Co., 8787 Orion Place, Columbus, OH, 43240, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43212, USA

    Christina L. Back

  2. Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Mansfield, OH, 44903, USA

    Joseph R. Holomuzki

  3. Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve, Cleveland Road East, Huron, OH, 44839, USA

    David M. Klarer

  4. Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, California University of Pennsylvania, California, PA, 15419, USA

    Robert S. Whyte

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  1. Christina L. Back
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Correspondence to Joseph R. Holomuzki.

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Back, C.L., Holomuzki, J.R., Klarer, D.M. et al. Herbiciding invasive reed: indirect effects on habitat conditions and snail–algal assemblages one year post-application. Wetlands Ecol Manage 20, 419–431 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-012-9265-3

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