Department of international Environmental &Agricultural Science (IEAS)
Graduate School of Agriculture
Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology







3-5-8, Saiwaicho, Fuchu, Tokyo 183-8509 Japan
Building 2, Room 2N-306
Phone/fax: +81-42-367-5889

Menu


Main page

About

Members

Publications

Pictures

日本語


Top

Pesticide Fate and Transport Laboratory

Watanabe Hirozumi (Ph.D,  Professor)

Department of International, Environmental & Agricultural Sciences (IEAS)

Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT)

3-5-8, Saiwaicho, Fuchu, Tokyo 183-8509 Japan


Email: pochi(at)cc.jskrtf.com

Phone/Fax: +81-42-367-5889,


Full CV



Backbrounds and interests

     Hirozumi Watanabe has received his Ph.D. in agricultural and biological engineering in1999 from University of California, Davis. After working as a post doctoral fellow at National Institute for Agro-environmental Sciences, he joined Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology since 2000. He is currently appointed to be an associate professor in the department of International, Environmental and Agricultural Sciences and teaches several courses in both undergraduate and graduate programs.
     His research area focuses on monitoring and modeling of pesticide fate and transport in agricultural environments. The major objectives of the current research activities are development and assessment of the good agricultural practices for reducing the environmental exposure risks associated with pesticide use in agricultural production.

1. Monitoring of pesticide fate and transport

     Recently, he has been mainly working for rice paddy environments for multiple scales from lysimeter and plot scales and to watershed scale. Pesticide fate and transport studies in lysimeter scale have been conducted with several sizes from micro-paddy lysimeters to large size permanent set lysemeters. Especially, micro-paddy lysimeter experiments have been proven to be useful in inexpensive and rapid determination of pesticide fate parameters, which can be used parallel in the modeling. Number of plot studies has been done last 10 years to investigate fate and transport of rice herbicides, fungicide, and insecticides. Also, the Best Management Practices (BMPs) or Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) for reducing pesticide losses from paddy rice field including Water Holding Period and Excess Water Storage Depth has been evaluated and recommended. Watershed scale monitoring was conducted in about 100 ha paddy rice watershed during 2002-2005. The fate and transport characteristics of rice herbicides in paddy watershed have been reviled and also, some BMPs were recommended to reduce herbicide losses from rice paddy.

2. Modeling of pesticide fate and transport

     Modeling of pesticide fate and transport has been major focus of his research carrier. He has developed a simulation model for pesticide fate and transport in vegetative filter strips (PRVSF) during his Ph. D. In Japan, he developed a simulation model for pesticide fate and transport in paddy field (PCPF-1) in 1998 and the model is validated and applied number of rice herbicides used under Japanese and Italian conditions. PCPF-1 has been modified and validated to watershed scale recently. Probabilistic exposure risk assessments using field data and PCPF model for evaluating GAPs in reduction of pesticides losses from rice paddy has been presented in international conferences and journal papers.

3. Current progress and Future aspects

     Investigation of Good Agricultural Practices for controlling pesticide runoff from paddy field through the probabilistic assessment on pesticide exposure associated with local agricultural management and hydrologic condition is in progress.
For fate and transport studies in paddy field, a joint project with Japanese biologists for investigating the eco-toxicological effects of insecticides on dragonfly larvae in rice paddy environments has been also in progress.
     For international cooperation through pesticide monitoring and modeling, the application of the monitoring and modeling procedures developed in the lab to other international sites in Asia, Europe and the US is of our interest. A plot scale monitoring and modeling study in tropical rice paddy in Taiwan has been in progress. A project for developing an experimental devises and methodology for pesticide runoff from upland fields using a rainfall simulator in Thailand and pesticide fate and transport modeling in Sacramento River Basin has been started recently.