A spatio-temporal analysis of environmental fate and transport processes of pesticides and their transformation products in agricultural landscapes dominated by subsurface drainage with SWAT+

Anne Kathrin Wendell; Björn Guse; Katrin Bieger; Paul D. Wagner; Jens Kiesel; Uta Ulrich; Nicola Fohrer

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173629

A spatio-temporal analysis of environmental fate and transport processes of pesticides and their transformation products in agricultural landscapes dominated by subsurface drainage with SWAT+

Anne Kathrin Wendell^*, Björn Guse, Katrin Bieger, Paul D. Wagner, Jens Kiesel, Uta Ulrich, Nicola Fohrer

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Ecoscience - Catchment Science and Environmental Management

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Pesticides are detected in surface water and groundwater, endangering the environment. In lowland regions with subsurface drainage systems, drained depressions become hotspots for transport of pesticides and their transformation products (TPs). This study focuses on detailed modelling of the degradation and transport of pesticides with different physico-chemical properties. The objective is to analyse complex hydrological transport processes, to understand the temporal and spatial dynamics of the degradation and transport of pesticides. The ecohydrological model SWAT+ simulates hydrological processes as well as agricultural management and pesticide degradation, and can therefore be used to develop pesticide loss reduction strategies. This study focuses on modelling of three pesticides (pendimethalin, diflufenican, and flufenacet), and two TPs, flufenacet-oxalic acid (FOA) and flufenacet sulfonic acid (FESA). The study area is a 100-hectare farmland in the northern German lowlands of Schleswig-Holstein that is characterized by an spacious drainage network of 6.3 km and managed according to common conventional agricultural practice. SWAT+ modelled streamflow with very good agreement between observed and simulated data during calibration and validation. Regarding pesticides, the model performance for highly mobile substances is better than for non-mobile pesticides. While the transport of the moderately to very mobile substances via tile drains played an important role in both wet and dry conditions, no transport via tile drains was modelled for the highly sorptive and non-mobile pendimethalin. In conclusion, the model can reliably represent the degradation of moderately to very mobile pesticides in small-scale tile drainage-dominated catchments, as well as surface runoff-induced peak loads. However, it has weaknesses in accounting for the subsurface transport of non-mobile substances, which can lead to an underestimation of the subsequent delivery after precipitation events and thus underestimates the total load.

Original language	English
Article number	173629
Journal	Science of the Total Environment
Volume	945
ISSN	0048-9697
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173629
Publication status	Published - Oct 2024

Keywords

Eco-hydrological modelling
Farm scale
Plant protection products
SWAT+
Tile drains
Transformation products

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Wendell, A. K., Guse, B., Bieger, K., Wagner, P. D., Kiesel, J., Ulrich, U., & Fohrer, N. (2024). A spatio-temporal analysis of environmental fate and transport processes of pesticides and their transformation products in agricultural landscapes dominated by subsurface drainage with SWAT+. Science of the Total Environment, 945, Article 173629. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173629

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title = "A spatio-temporal analysis of environmental fate and transport processes of pesticides and their transformation products in agricultural landscapes dominated by subsurface drainage with SWAT+",

abstract = "Pesticides are detected in surface water and groundwater, endangering the environment. In lowland regions with subsurface drainage systems, drained depressions become hotspots for transport of pesticides and their transformation products (TPs). This study focuses on detailed modelling of the degradation and transport of pesticides with different physico-chemical properties. The objective is to analyse complex hydrological transport processes, to understand the temporal and spatial dynamics of the degradation and transport of pesticides. The ecohydrological model SWAT+ simulates hydrological processes as well as agricultural management and pesticide degradation, and can therefore be used to develop pesticide loss reduction strategies. This study focuses on modelling of three pesticides (pendimethalin, diflufenican, and flufenacet), and two TPs, flufenacet-oxalic acid (FOA) and flufenacet sulfonic acid (FESA). The study area is a 100-hectare farmland in the northern German lowlands of Schleswig-Holstein that is characterized by an spacious drainage network of 6.3 km and managed according to common conventional agricultural practice. SWAT+ modelled streamflow with very good agreement between observed and simulated data during calibration and validation. Regarding pesticides, the model performance for highly mobile substances is better than for non-mobile pesticides. While the transport of the moderately to very mobile substances via tile drains played an important role in both wet and dry conditions, no transport via tile drains was modelled for the highly sorptive and non-mobile pendimethalin. In conclusion, the model can reliably represent the degradation of moderately to very mobile pesticides in small-scale tile drainage-dominated catchments, as well as surface runoff-induced peak loads. However, it has weaknesses in accounting for the subsurface transport of non-mobile substances, which can lead to an underestimation of the subsequent delivery after precipitation events and thus underestimates the total load.",

keywords = "Eco-hydrological modelling, Farm scale, Plant protection products, SWAT+, Tile drains, Transformation products",

author = "Wendell, {Anne Kathrin} and Bj{\"o}rn Guse and Katrin Bieger and Wagner, {Paul D.} and Jens Kiesel and Uta Ulrich and Nicola Fohrer",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2024 The Authors",

year = "2024",

month = oct,

doi = "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173629",

language = "English",

volume = "945",

journal = "Science of the Total Environment",

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Wendell, AK, Guse, B, Bieger, K, Wagner, PD, Kiesel, J, Ulrich, U & Fohrer, N 2024, 'A spatio-temporal analysis of environmental fate and transport processes of pesticides and their transformation products in agricultural landscapes dominated by subsurface drainage with SWAT+', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 945, 173629. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173629

A spatio-temporal analysis of environmental fate and transport processes of pesticides and their transformation products in agricultural landscapes dominated by subsurface drainage with SWAT+. / Wendell, Anne Kathrin; Guse, Björn; Bieger, Katrin et al.
In: Science of the Total Environment, Vol. 945, 173629, 10.2024.

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - A spatio-temporal analysis of environmental fate and transport processes of pesticides and their transformation products in agricultural landscapes dominated by subsurface drainage with SWAT+

AU - Wendell, Anne Kathrin

AU - Guse, Björn

AU - Bieger, Katrin

AU - Wagner, Paul D.

AU - Kiesel, Jens

AU - Ulrich, Uta

AU - Fohrer, Nicola

PY - 2024/10

Y1 - 2024/10

N2 - Pesticides are detected in surface water and groundwater, endangering the environment. In lowland regions with subsurface drainage systems, drained depressions become hotspots for transport of pesticides and their transformation products (TPs). This study focuses on detailed modelling of the degradation and transport of pesticides with different physico-chemical properties. The objective is to analyse complex hydrological transport processes, to understand the temporal and spatial dynamics of the degradation and transport of pesticides. The ecohydrological model SWAT+ simulates hydrological processes as well as agricultural management and pesticide degradation, and can therefore be used to develop pesticide loss reduction strategies. This study focuses on modelling of three pesticides (pendimethalin, diflufenican, and flufenacet), and two TPs, flufenacet-oxalic acid (FOA) and flufenacet sulfonic acid (FESA). The study area is a 100-hectare farmland in the northern German lowlands of Schleswig-Holstein that is characterized by an spacious drainage network of 6.3 km and managed according to common conventional agricultural practice. SWAT+ modelled streamflow with very good agreement between observed and simulated data during calibration and validation. Regarding pesticides, the model performance for highly mobile substances is better than for non-mobile pesticides. While the transport of the moderately to very mobile substances via tile drains played an important role in both wet and dry conditions, no transport via tile drains was modelled for the highly sorptive and non-mobile pendimethalin. In conclusion, the model can reliably represent the degradation of moderately to very mobile pesticides in small-scale tile drainage-dominated catchments, as well as surface runoff-induced peak loads. However, it has weaknesses in accounting for the subsurface transport of non-mobile substances, which can lead to an underestimation of the subsequent delivery after precipitation events and thus underestimates the total load.

AB - Pesticides are detected in surface water and groundwater, endangering the environment. In lowland regions with subsurface drainage systems, drained depressions become hotspots for transport of pesticides and their transformation products (TPs). This study focuses on detailed modelling of the degradation and transport of pesticides with different physico-chemical properties. The objective is to analyse complex hydrological transport processes, to understand the temporal and spatial dynamics of the degradation and transport of pesticides. The ecohydrological model SWAT+ simulates hydrological processes as well as agricultural management and pesticide degradation, and can therefore be used to develop pesticide loss reduction strategies. This study focuses on modelling of three pesticides (pendimethalin, diflufenican, and flufenacet), and two TPs, flufenacet-oxalic acid (FOA) and flufenacet sulfonic acid (FESA). The study area is a 100-hectare farmland in the northern German lowlands of Schleswig-Holstein that is characterized by an spacious drainage network of 6.3 km and managed according to common conventional agricultural practice. SWAT+ modelled streamflow with very good agreement between observed and simulated data during calibration and validation. Regarding pesticides, the model performance for highly mobile substances is better than for non-mobile pesticides. While the transport of the moderately to very mobile substances via tile drains played an important role in both wet and dry conditions, no transport via tile drains was modelled for the highly sorptive and non-mobile pendimethalin. In conclusion, the model can reliably represent the degradation of moderately to very mobile pesticides in small-scale tile drainage-dominated catchments, as well as surface runoff-induced peak loads. However, it has weaknesses in accounting for the subsurface transport of non-mobile substances, which can lead to an underestimation of the subsequent delivery after precipitation events and thus underestimates the total load.

KW - Eco-hydrological modelling

KW - Farm scale

KW - Plant protection products

KW - SWAT+

KW - Tile drains

KW - Transformation products

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U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173629

DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173629

M3 - Journal article

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AN - SCOPUS:85196554784

SN - 0048-9697

VL - 945

JO - Science of the Total Environment

JF - Science of the Total Environment

M1 - 173629

ER -

A spatio-temporal analysis of environmental fate and transport processes of pesticides and their transformation products in agricultural landscapes dominated by subsurface drainage with SWAT+

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