Fate of Fenhexamid in Water-Sediment Systems: Degradation Under Aerobic/Anaerobic Conditions and Bioaccumulation by Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Little is known about the environmental behavior of fenhexamid (FEN) in aquatic ecosystems such as degradation and bioaccumulation, in spite of the fact that it is critical for a comprehensive assessment of its ecological risks. This study investigated for the first time the degradation of FEN in water-sediment systems under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions and also bioaccumulation by zebrafish (Danio rerio). Water and sediments from different natural waters including river HR and lake HL were applied to build up water-sediment microcosms in the laboratory. When FEN was introduced into the aqueous phase, it would partition from water to sediment gradually and be decomposed in sediment compartment. The dissipation half-lives of FEN in water were 43.8, 75.9, 31.3, and 37.2 days for HR-aerobic, HR-anaerobic, HL-aerobic, and HL-anaerobic microcosms, respectively. Moreover, FEN degradation rate constants of whole systems varied from 0.0045 to 0.0088 per day and the half-lives were from 78.4 to 155 days. The aerobic circumstances were demonstrated to be favor of FEN degradation. The bioconcentration factor (BCF) was 2.6–3.1 obtained from zebrafish exposure experiments at environmentally relevant concentrations. Clearly, our results indicated that FEN could be accumulated in the deeper layer of sediment owing to the anaerobic condition against FEN degradation, but FEN showed a low potential for bioaccumulation. These may aid in comprehensive understanding the fate and risk of FEN in aquatic environment.