(Tri)butyltin biotic degradation rates and pathways in different compartments of a freshwater model ecosystem.

Experiments were conducted in controlled temperate freshwater ecosystems (microcosms) to determine the persistence and biogeochemical dynamic of tributyltin (TBT) and its degradation products. TBT and its derivatives were monitored simultaneously for 23 days (552 h) in sediment-water systems, with or without macroorganisms (macrophytes: Elodea canadensis and gastropods: Lymnaea stagnalis). Biphasic TBT removal from the water column was significantly enhanced by the presence of biota. The persistence of TBT in biota was assessed by a kinetic approach of the different bioaccumulation pathways and associated metabolisms adopted by the snails and the macrophytes in response to the TBT contamination. Furthermore, sediment acted for the final sink for butyltins in both types of microcosms, with more than 70% of TBT and its metabolites recovered in this compartment after two weeks of exposure. Degradation pathways in sediments of both biotic and abiotic microcosms appeared to represent a key process in TBT cycle and were characterized by half-lives in the range of one month. Specific transformation and transfer pathways of TBT as reactional mechanisms are discussed and modelled assessing in detail the role of each compartment with regards to the fate of TBT in the model aquatic ecosystems.