Fate and effects of the herbicide atrazine in flow-through wetland mesocosms

Abstract Wetland mesocosms were exposed to increasing concentrations of atrazine over time at levels typical of midwestern surface waters following spring runoff (15 to 75 μg/L). Atrazine had a half-life of 8 to 14 d in the 230-m-long wetlands. End points measured included nutrient levels; periphyton biomass; periphyton productivity and respiration; growth of selected macrophytes; and survival and growth of Daphnia magna (15, 25 μg/L atrazine), Rana pipiens (15, 25 μg/L), and Pimephales promelas larvae (25 to 75 μg/L) and adults (50, 75 μg/L). Interaction between nutrient status or grazing intensity and atrazine effects were measured using periphyton enrichment and grazing exclosure experiments. Only periphyton, Ceratophyllum demersum, Zizania aquatica, and Daphnia were significantly affected by atrazine at any of the concentrations tested. Periphyton net productivity was significantly depressed by incubation in treated water as compared to control water at ≥25 μg/L atrazine (9 to 27-d exposures). In response, dissolved nutrient concentrations increased in treated mesocosms after 14 d. Ceratophyllum length/weight ratios increased after 6-d exposures to 50 μg/L atrazine, while Zizania senesced prematurely during treatments of 50 or 75 μg/L atrazine (97 d of cumulative exposure). Periphyton developed resistance to atrazine only at concentrations ≥50 μg/L. Atrazine effects on periphyton composition varied with the N:P supply ratio. Daphnia survival was significantly depressed at 15 μg/L atrazine (48-h exposures).