Abstract
The main control exerted by hydrological processes on vegetation in water-limited ecosystems is through the soil water content, which, in turn, results from complex interactions between precipitation, infiltration, evaporation, transpiration, and soil drainage. Soil moisture dynamics affects the occurrence, duration, and intensity of periods of water stress in vegetation (Hale and Orcutt 1987; Smith and Griffiths 1993; Porporato et al. 2001) with important effects on plant cell turgidity, on stomatal conductance, and, in turn, on photosynthesis, carbon assimilation, and ecosystem net primary productivity (Chaps. 4 and 5). The dependence of canopy conductance on soil moisture is also of foremost importance in modulating the heat and water vapor fluxes from terrestrial vegetation to the near-surface atmosphere, with important impacts on the moisture content and stability of the atmospheric boundary layer and consequent feedbacks to the process of precipitation and the water cycle (Chap. 7). Soil moisture also exerts an important control on nutrient cycling (e.g., Linn and Doran 1984; Skopp et al. 1990; Parton et al. 1998; Porporato et al. 2003), due to its effects on microbial activity and nitrogen and phosphorus leaching and uptake, as explained in Chaps. 11, 12, and 13. Other surface processes affected by the soil water content include infiltration, runoff, soil erosion, and dust emission from dryland landscapes (Chap. 9).
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Yin, J., D’Odorico, P., Porporato, A. (2019). Soil Moisture Dynamics in Water-Limited Ecosystems. In: D'Odorico, P., Porporato, A., Wilkinson Runyan, C. (eds) Dryland Ecohydrology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23269-6_2
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