Vallisneria americana Michx. (tapegrass) is an ecologically important submersed, vascular aquatic plant that provides food and shelter for many aquatic and waterfowl species. This plant often occurs close to land areas where
herbicides are used. Nontarget exposure of these plants to
herbicides may compromise ecological structure and function. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the suitability of several endpoint measurements for determining no-observable-adverse effect concentrations (NOAECs), lowest-observable-adverse effect concentrations (LOAECs), and median effective concentration values (EC50s) for tapegrass exposed to the
herbicides bromacil (0-0.092 mg/L) and
simazine (0-0.592 mg/L) following a 13-d single-pulse exposure and 15-d (
bromacil) or 14-d (
simazine) postexposure periods. The NOAEC/LOAEC/EC50 for fresh
weight gains, new leaf production, and total leaf growth after 13-d exposure to
bromacil were 0.020/0.036/0.032, 0.036/0.054/0.036, and 0.036/0.054/0.043 mg/L, respectively. The same respective NOAEC/LOAEC/EC50s for
simazine were <0.058/0.058/0.067, 0.229/0.344/0.154, and 0.058/0.116/0.081 mg/L. Reductions in quantity and fresh weight of daughter plants produced and stolon fresh weights occurred at
bromacil concentrations > or = 77, 0.020, and 0.036 mg/L, respectively; and
simazine concentrations > or = 0.344, >0.592, and > or = 0.116 mg/L, respectively. Neither
herbicide affected leaf greenness, total
chlorophyll concentrations, or
carbohydrate allocation. Although toxicity was shown for many endpoints, most EC50 values were greater than aquatic life benchmark values for algae used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), but less than for aquatic plants, indicating that V. americana would likely be protected by use of the algal benchmark criteria.