Peter A. Kish

Effects of Roundup, Glean, Aatrex, on Periphyton Communities: Using the Matlock Periphytometer Peter A. Kish

The purpose of the study was to examine herbicide impacts upon lotic periphyton communities at concentrations that could be found in the environment. Changes in periphyton communities were evaluated by measuring total chlorophyll, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and chlorophyll c indicating that agriculturally realistic concentrations of Aatrex, Roundup, and Glean have no significant decrease in periphyton biomass, measured as total chlorophyll per cm2. Chlorophyll ratios suggest these herbicides change the community composition. Roundup and Glean appear to favor eukaryotic periphyton, and Aatrex appears to favor prokaryotic periphyton. Laboratory studies used the filamentous alga Pithophora oedogonia to study the effects of these herbicides and their active ingredients indicating commercial herbicides are more effective than their active ingredients alone, and that surfactants used elicit a significant dose-response on growth rate.