Ecological impact assessment of abate on Florida state lands saltmarsh communities. Three-year summary report January 1995 through December 1997.

Abstract

This report describes a project that was undertaken to address concern for possible adverse ecological effects from applications of the mosquito larvicide abate (temephos) on State-owned saltmarsh lands along the intertidal regions of Cape Coral, Florida. The report encompasses three years of study initiated in 1995 and concluded the following: Extreme conditions experienced in the saltmarsh apparently inhibited development of a stable planktonic community, favoring benthic infauna and infauna communities; adulticide applications over adjacent residential communities did result in deposition of the adulticide into the saltmarsh study areas, when wind direction was toward the saltmarsh; and no adverse impact was detected on the benthic infauna collected from sediment core samples or fauna collected from the artificial substrate samplers.