Herbicide treatment alters the effects of water hyacinth on larval mosquito abundance

Abstract

Invasive aquatic weeds are managed with herbicides to reduce their negative impacts on waterways in many areas, including the California Delta Region. Herbicides create a dynamic environment of living and decomposing plant matter that could affect larval mosquitoes and other invertebrates, such as their predators and competitors. Our objective was to compare the number of larval mosquitoes in water or water hyacinth, before and after an herbicide treatment. We created replicated pond mesocosms with water hyacinth, water hyacinth treated with glyphosate and an oil adjuvant, open water, and water with glyphosate plus adjuvant. We sampled for larval mosquitoes and other aquatic invertebrates. Before herbicide addition, there was a trend for more larval mosquitoes in open water tanks than in tanks with water hyacinth. Herbicide application resulted in an immediate decrease of larval mosquitoes. As decay progressed, larval mosquitoes became most abundant in mesocosms with herbicide-treated hyacinth and very few larval mosquitoes were found in other habitat treatments. Although the numbers of predatory and competitor insects had some variation between treatments, no clear pattern emerged. This information on how invasive weed management with herbicides affects larval mosquitoes will allow control practices for larval mosquitoes and invasive weeds to be better integrated.