Modeling spatial variation in microbial degradation of pesticides in soil.

Currently, no general guidance is available on suitable approaches for dealing with spatial variation in the first-order pesticide degradation rate constant k even though it is a very sensitive parameter and often highly variable at the field, catchment, and regional scales. Supported by some mechanistic reasoning, we propose a simple general modeling approach to predict k from the sorption constant, which reflects bioavailability, and easily measurable surrogate variables for microbial biomass/activity (organic carbon and clay contents). The soil depth was also explicitly included as an additional predictor variable.