Aquaculture-derived distribution, partitioning, migration, and transformation of atrazine and its metabolites in seawater, sediment, and organisms from a typical semi-closed mariculture bay

Highlights: • ATRs showed a higher level in aquaculture area than that in non-aquaculture area. • ATR had higher BCF values in Ditrema, Black Sea Bream, and Sinonovacula constricta. • The main fate of ATR in the simulated microenvironment was sedimentation. • ATR posed a medium or high risk to algae in the water phase of the study areas. Atrazine (ATR) is one of the most commonly used herbicides that could directly impair the growth and health of organisms in mariculture areas and adversely affect human health through the food chain. This study investigated the contaminant occurrence, migration, and transformation of ATR and three of its chlorinated metabolites, namely deethylatrazine (DEA), deisopropylatrazine (DIA), and didealkylatrazine (DDA), in surface seawater, sediment, and aquatic organisms from the Xiangshan Harbor. ATR was detected in all samples, while DIA and DDA were only respectively detected in aquatic and seawater samples. The distribution of ATR and its metabolites presented different patterns depending on the geographic location and showed a higher level in the aquaculture area than that in the non-aquaculture area. The bioaccumulation of ATR in aquaculture organisms showed that benthic organisms, such as Ditrema, and Sinonovacula constricta (Sin), had increased levels. The ecological risks indicated that ATR posed medium or high risks to algae in the water phase of the study area. The microcosm experiment showed that the main fate of ATR in the simulated microenvironment was sedimentation, which followed the first-order kinetic equation. The ATR in the sediment could be enriched 3–5 times in Sin, and its major metabolites were DEA and DIA.