Calibration of pesticide leaching models: critical review and guidance for reporting

Calibration of pesticide leaching models may be undertaken to evaluate the ability of models to simulate experimental data, to assist in their parameterisation where values for input parameters are difficult to determine experimentally, to determine values for specific model inputs (e.g. sorption and degradation parameters) and to allow extrapolations to be carried out. Although calibration of leaching models is a critical phase in the assessment of pesticide exposure, lack of guidance means that calibration procedures default to the modeller. This may result in different calibration and extrapolation results for different individuals depending on the procedures used, and thus may influence decisions regarding the placement of crop-protection products on the market. A number of issues are discussed in this paper including data requirements and assessment of data quality, the selection of a model and parameters for performing calibration, the use of automated calibration techniques as opposed to more traditional trial-and-error approaches, difficulties in the comparison of simulated and measured data, differences in calibration procedures, and the assessment of parameter values derived by calibration. Guidelines for the reporting of calibration activities within the scope of pesticide registration are proposed.