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Ecohydrology of Arid and Semiarid Ecosystems: An Introduction

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Dryland Ecohydrology

Abstract

Ecohydrology has been defined as “the science, which seeks to describe the hydrologic mechanisms that underlie ecologic patterns and processes” (Rodriguez-Iturbe 2000, p. 1). This type of inquiry is fundamental to the understanding of the coupling existing between ecosystem dynamics and the water cycle, in particular in arid and semiarid environments, where water is an important limiting resource not only for its scarcity but also for its intermittency and unpredictable presence (Porporato and Rodriguez-Iturbe 2002; Rodriguez-Iturbe and Porporato 2005). The biogeoscience community has recently been trying to establish stronger connections between research in the physical and the natural sciences to provide a process-based understanding of the interactions existing between the hydrosphere and the biosphere. Thus, the research area at the confluence between hydrology and ecology has received considerable attention. The term “ecohydrology,” itself, has become increasingly popular in the scientific literature. Initially used to denote an integrated study of ecological and hydrological processes in wetlands (Ingram 1987; Zalewski et al. 1997), this designation was later extended to all terrestrial ecosystems (Vertessy et al. 1996; Baird and Wilby 1999; Rodriguez-Iturbe 2000) and to the interaction between freshwater and ecosystem services (Gordon and Folke 2000).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Paolo D’Odorico

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Princeton Environmental Studies, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Amilcare Porporato

  3. Department of Arts and Sciences, Advanced Academic Programs, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC, USA

    Christiane Runyan

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  1. Paolo D’Odorico
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  2. Amilcare Porporato
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  3. Christiane Runyan
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Correspondence to Paolo D’Odorico .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Paolo D'Odorico

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Amilcare Porporato

  3. Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts & Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC, USA

    Christiane Wilkinson Runyan

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D’Odorico, P., Porporato, A., Runyan, C. (2019). Ecohydrology of Arid and Semiarid Ecosystems: An Introduction. In: D'Odorico, P., Porporato, A., Wilkinson Runyan, C. (eds) Dryland Ecohydrology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23269-6_1

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