title: The impact of the herbicide atrazine on growth and photosynthesis of seagrass, Zostera marina (L.), seedlings.
abstract: The impact of the widely used herbicide atrazine on seedling growth and photosynthesis of eelgrass was determined. The long-term impact of the herbicide atrazine (1, 10 and 100 μg/L) on growth of eelgrass Zostera marina (L.) seedlings, maintained in outdoor aquaria, was monitored over 4 weeks. Exposure to 10 μg/L atrazine resulted in significantly lower plant fresh weight and total chlorophyll concentration and up to 86.67% mortality at the 100 μg/L concentration. Short-term photosynthetic stress on eelgrass seedlings was determined and compared with adult eelgrass using chlorophyll fluorescence. The effective quantum yield in eelgrass seedlings was significantly depressed at all atrazine concentrations (2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64 μg/L) even within 2 h and remained at a lower level than for adult plants for each concentration. These results indicate that atrazine presents a potential threat to seagrass seedling functioning and that the impact is much higher than for adult plants.
authors: Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fisheries Science, Qingdao 266071, China. gaoyaping8640@163.com
authors: Yaping
authors: Y
authors: Gao
authors: Jianguang
authors: J
authors: Fang
authors: Jihong
authors: J
authors: Zhang
authors: Lihua
authors: L
authors: Ren
authors: Yuze
authors: Y
authors: Mao
authors: Bin
authors: B
authors: Li
authors: Mingliang
authors: M
authors: Zhang
authors: Dinghai
authors: D
authors: Liu
authors: Meirong
authors: M
authors: Du
mesh_terms: D001280:Atrazine / Q000633:toxicity*; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D005453:Fluorescence; D006540:Herbicides / Q000633:toxicity*; D010788:Photosynthesis / Q000187:drug effects*; D036226:Seedlings / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D013997:Time Factors; D035962:Zosteraceae / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D006540:Herbicides; D002734:Chlorophyll; D001280:Atrazine