The Experts below are selected from a list of 1983 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Ignacio Rodrigueziturbe - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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from random variability to ordered structures a search for general synthesis in Ecohydrology
Ecohydrology, 2013Co-Authors: Amilcare Porporato, Ignacio RodrigueziturbeAbstract:We present our personal view of some of the exciting research avenues in Ecohydrology, which are related to quantifying the effects of hydrologic variability and anthropogenic disturbance on ecohydrological processes. Using several examples, we discuss how concepts and tools inspired from information theory, statistical mechanics and nonequilibrium thermodynamics may help us advance in some of the challenges posed by the need to sustainably manage our soil and water resources, while preserving ecosystem services. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Ecohydrology of groundwater dependent ecosystems 1 stochastic water table dynamics
Water Resources Research, 2009Co-Authors: Francesco Laio, Stefania Tamea, Luca Ridolfi, Paolo Dodorico, Ignacio RodrigueziturbeAbstract:[1] Areas with a relatively shallow water table are environments where the groundwater plays a key role on the ecosystem function, and important interactions exist between hydrology and ecosystem processes. We propose here an analytical model to study the interactions between rainfall, water table, and vegetation in groundwater-dependent ecosystems. The water table dynamics are studied as a random process stochastically driven by a marked Poisson noise representing rainfall events. Infiltration, root water uptake, water flow to/from an external water body, and capillary rise are accounted for in a probabilistic description of water table fluctuations. We obtain analytical expressions for the steady state probability distribution of water table depth, which allows us to investigate the long-term behavior of water table dynamics, and their sensitivity to changes in climate, vegetation cover, and water management.
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Ecohydrology of groundwater dependent ecosystems 2 stochastic soil moisture dynamics
Water Resources Research, 2009Co-Authors: Stefania Tamea, Francesco Laio, Luca Ridolfi, Paolo Dodorico, Ignacio RodrigueziturbeAbstract:[1] In groundwater-dependent ecosystems, interactions between rainfall, water table fluctuations, and vegetation are exerted through the soil water content. The dynamics of soil moisture, in fact, are strongly coupled to fluctuations of the water table and, together, they control the overall ecosystem dynamics. We propose here a simple process-based stochastic model for the study of soil moisture dynamics at a generic depth, to complement the stochastic model of water table depth presented in the companion paper. The model presented here is based on a local and depth-dependent water balance driven by stochastic rainfall (marked Poisson noise) and accounting for processes such as rainfall infiltration, root water uptake, and capillary rise. We obtain a semianalytical formulation of the stationary probability distribution of soil water content at different depths, which is studied for different values of soil, climate, and vegetation parameters. The probability distributions are used to investigate the Ecohydrology of groundwater-dependent ecosystems, including the quantitative description of the vegetation―water table―soil moisture interplay and the probabilistic analysis of root water uptake.
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on the Ecohydrology of structurally heterogeneous semiarid landscapes
Water Resources Research, 2006Co-Authors: Kelly K Caylor, Paolo Dodorico, Ignacio RodrigueziturbeAbstract:[1] Clarification of the coupled ecohydrological mechanisms that determine the spatial pattern and structural characteristics of vegetation in water-limited landscapes remains a vexing problem in both hydrological and vegetation sciences. A particular challenge is the fact that the spatial pattern of vegetation is both a cause and effect of variation in water availability in semiarid ecosystems. Here we develop a methodology to derive the landscape-scale distribution of water balance and soil moisture in a patchy vegetation mosaic based on the statistics of an underlying poisson distribution of individual tree canopies and their accompanying root systems. We consider the dynamics of water balance at a point to be dependent on the number of intersecting tree root systems and overlapping tree canopies. The coupling of individual pattern to landscape-scale distribution of soil water balance allows for investigations into the role of tree density, average canopy size, and the lateral extension of tree root systems on the spatiotemporal patterns of soil moisture dynamics, plant water uptake, and plant stress in a wide range of open woodland ecosystems. Our model is applied to southern African savannas, and we find that locations in the landscape that contain average vegetation structure correspond to conditions of minimum stress across a wide range of annual rainfall and vegetation densities. Furthermore, observed vegetation structural parameters are consistent with an optimization that simultaneously maximizes plant water uptake while minimizing plant water stress. Finally, the model predicts adaptive changes in the optimal lateral extent of plant roots which decreases with increasing rainfall along a regional gradient in mean annual precipitation.
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Ecohydrology of water controlled ecosystems soil moisture and plant dynamics
2005Co-Authors: Ignacio Rodrigueziturbe, Amilcare PorporatoAbstract:Foreword Gabriel Katul Preface 1. Introduction 2. Stochastic soil moisture dynamics and water balance 3. Crossing properties of soil moisture dynamics 4. Plant water stress 5. Applications to natural ecosystems 6. Coupled dynamics of photosynthesis, transpiration and soil water balance: from hourly to growing-season time scale 7. Plant strategies and water use 8. Seasonal and interannual fluctuations in soil moisture dynamics 9. Spatial scale issues in soil moisture dynamics 10. Hydrologic controls on nutrient cycles 11. Hydrologic variability and ecosystem structure References Species index Subject index.
Luca Ridolfi - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Ecohydrology of Terrestrial Ecosystems
BioScience, 2010Co-Authors: Paolo D'odorico, Francesco Laio, Luca Ridolfi, Amilcare Porporato, Andrea Rinaldo, Ignacio Rodriguez-iturbeAbstract:Water controls the dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems directly, as a resource for the biota, and indirectly, as a driver for abiotic processes on the Earth's surface, in the atmosphere, and belowground. The biota, in turn, modulate several hydrological processes and the rate of the water cycle. Here we review recent advances related to fundamental processes and feedbacks emerging from the interactions among hydrologic processes and ecosystems, with a particular focus on soil moisture dynamics and river flow. Most terrestrial vegetation interacts with hydrological processes through the soil-water balance, which is affected by soil properties, random climate drivers, and feedbacks with the biota. River flow enhances the ecohydrological connectivity of the landscape, spreading sediments, nutrients, propagules, and waterborne disease through waterways.
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Ecohydrology of groundwater dependent ecosystems 1 stochastic water table dynamics
Water Resources Research, 2009Co-Authors: Francesco Laio, Stefania Tamea, Luca Ridolfi, Paolo Dodorico, Ignacio RodrigueziturbeAbstract:[1] Areas with a relatively shallow water table are environments where the groundwater plays a key role on the ecosystem function, and important interactions exist between hydrology and ecosystem processes. We propose here an analytical model to study the interactions between rainfall, water table, and vegetation in groundwater-dependent ecosystems. The water table dynamics are studied as a random process stochastically driven by a marked Poisson noise representing rainfall events. Infiltration, root water uptake, water flow to/from an external water body, and capillary rise are accounted for in a probabilistic description of water table fluctuations. We obtain analytical expressions for the steady state probability distribution of water table depth, which allows us to investigate the long-term behavior of water table dynamics, and their sensitivity to changes in climate, vegetation cover, and water management.
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Ecohydrology of groundwater dependent ecosystems 2 stochastic soil moisture dynamics
Water Resources Research, 2009Co-Authors: Stefania Tamea, Francesco Laio, Luca Ridolfi, Paolo Dodorico, Ignacio RodrigueziturbeAbstract:[1] In groundwater-dependent ecosystems, interactions between rainfall, water table fluctuations, and vegetation are exerted through the soil water content. The dynamics of soil moisture, in fact, are strongly coupled to fluctuations of the water table and, together, they control the overall ecosystem dynamics. We propose here a simple process-based stochastic model for the study of soil moisture dynamics at a generic depth, to complement the stochastic model of water table depth presented in the companion paper. The model presented here is based on a local and depth-dependent water balance driven by stochastic rainfall (marked Poisson noise) and accounting for processes such as rainfall infiltration, root water uptake, and capillary rise. We obtain a semianalytical formulation of the stationary probability distribution of soil water content at different depths, which is studied for different values of soil, climate, and vegetation parameters. The probability distributions are used to investigate the Ecohydrology of groundwater-dependent ecosystems, including the quantitative description of the vegetation―water table―soil moisture interplay and the probabilistic analysis of root water uptake.
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mathematical models of vegetation pattern formation in Ecohydrology
Reviews of Geophysics, 2009Co-Authors: Fabio Borgogno, Francesco Laio, Paolo Dodorico, Luca RidolfiAbstract:[1] Highly organized vegetation patterns can be found in a number of landscapes around the world. In recent years, several authors have investigated the processes underlying vegetation pattern formation. Patterns that are induced neither by heterogeneity in soil properties nor by the local topography are generally explained as the result of spatial self-organization resulting from “symmetry-breaking instability” in nonlinear systems. In this case, the spatial dynamics are able to destabilize the homogeneous state of the system, leading to the emergence of stable heterogeneous configurations. Both deterministic and stochastic mechanisms may explain the self-organized vegetation patterns observed in nature. After an extensive analysis of deterministic theories, we review noise-induced mechanisms of pattern formation and provide some examples of applications relevant to the environmental sciences.
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Ecohydrology of water controlled ecosystems
2004Co-Authors: Amilcare Porporato, Francesco Laio, Luca Ridolfi, Paolo Dodorico, Ignacio RodrigueziturbeAbstract:Ecosystem dynamics in arid and semiarid climates are strongly dependent on the soil water availability which, in turn, is the result of a number of complex and mutually interacting hydrologic processes. This motivates the development of a process-based framework for the analysis of the soil water content in the root zone at the daily time scale. This paper reviews the results that the authors have obtained using a probabilistic–mechanistic model of soil water balance for the characterization of the seasonal regimes of soil moisture with different combinations of climate, soil, and vegetation. Average seasonal soil water content and level-crossing statistics have been used to study conditions of water stress in vegetation. The same framework has been applied to the analysis of the impact of interannual climate fluctuations on the seasonal regime of soil moisture and water stress. 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Maciej Zalewski - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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new challenges and dimensions of Ecohydrology enhancement of catchments sustainability potential
Ecohydrology and Hydrobiology, 2016Co-Authors: Maciej Zalewski, Michael E. Mcclain, Saeid EslamianAbstract:Abstract This issue is devoted to the UNESCO International Hydrological Program's Ecohydrology initiative to foster the development of the Ecohydrology science and its potential in reaching the current water and biota related sustainability challenges. The articles collected refer to the complex environmental and water management issues within large rivers, lakes, wetlands, and marine ecosystems in a wide range of scales, from catchment to microbial. The growing global population and their aspirations calls for changes in efficient resource use and enhancement of natural potential. Ecohydrology can play an important bridge between ecology and environmental management. Cultural heritage has been identified as fifth, very important dimension of sustainability, which together with water resources, biodiversity, ecosystem services and resilience complements the WBSR concept.
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Ecohydrology and hydrologic engineering regulation of hydrology biota interactions for sustainability
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 2015Co-Authors: Maciej ZalewskiAbstract:AbstractIn the context of global environmental and social change, with increasing pollution and decline of biodiversity of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems having its deep roots in drastic modifications to hydrological mesocycles, there is an urgent need for a new approach for sustainability. The two often contradicting approaches to water resources management, i.e., (1) hydrotechnical, and (2) ecological, can be reconciled within the context of Ecohydrology (EH). It seeks for the understanding of the underlying water-biota interactions as well as providing a new tool for management of water resources. While the majority of changes are nonreversible in the framework of Ecohydrology it is possible to regulate (dual regulation) the processes, especially in novel ecosystems, as an alternative to conservation and restoration measures, in order to increase their carrying capacity in the four dimensions, as follows: (1) water resources, (2) biodiversity, (3) ecosystem services, and (4) resilience. The propose...
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Ecohydrology: process-oriented thinking towards sustainable river basins
Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology, 2013Co-Authors: Maciej ZalewskiAbstract:Abstract Regarding recent progress in climatic change, the decline of water resources, degradation of soils and changes in demographic dynamics, this paper postulates that attempts to maintain the good ecological status of the biosphere based on the classic paradigm of nature-oriented thinking, embodied by conservation and restoration of nature, have to be expanded by environmental process-oriented thinking. Insofar as water has been a major driving factor of biosphere evolution and productivity, any profound understanding of fundamental ecological processes, such as hydrology and nutrient (C, N, P) cycles, on the scale of entire basins should be based on highlighting the biota response to various water pulse patterns in certain geographical regions, understanding of the role of biotic structure and the interactions present in shaping water and nutrient dynamics. This knowledge of Ecohydrology principles provides the scientific background for regulating the processes and interactions for: enhancing water resources, maintaining and restoring biodiversity, providing ecosystem services for societies and building resilience to climatic and anthropogenic impacts (WBSR), from the molecular to landscape scale. The above four goals will be instrumental in the harmonization of biosphere potential and satisfaction of the needs of humanity postulated during EcoSummit 2012 and expressed in the Columbus Declaration. Process-oriented thinking should create the fundamentals for the integration of Ecohydrology with environmental biotechnologies, hydro-technical and civil engineering.
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training hydrologists to be ecohydrologists and play a leading role in environmental problem solving
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 2012Co-Authors: Gavino M Novillo, Wilhelm Windhorst, Luis Chicharo, Nicola Fohrer, Michael E. Mcclain, Maciej ZalewskiAbstract:Ecohydrology is a relatively new and rapidly growing subject area in the hydrology curriculum. It is a trans-disciplinary science derived from the larger earth sys- tems science movement and examining mutual interactions of the hydrological cycle and ecosystems. It is also an applied science focused on problem solving and providing sound guidance to catchment-scale integrated land and water re- sources management. The principle spheres of ecohydrol- ogy include (i) climate-soil-vegetation-groundwater interac- tions at the land surface with special implications for land use, food production and climate change; (ii) riparian runoff, flooding, and flow regime dynamics in river corridors with special implications for water supply, water quality, and in- land fisheries; and (iii) fluvial and groundwater inputs to lakes/reservoirs, estuaries, and coastal zones with special im- plications for water quality and fisheries. We propose an ed- ucational vision focused on the development of professional and personal competencies to impart a depth of scientific knowledge in the theory and practice of Ecohydrology and a breadth of cross-cutting knowledge and skills to enable ecohydrologists to effectively collaborate with associated scientists and communicate results to resource managers, policy-makers, and other stakeholders. In-depth knowledge in hydrology, ecology, and biogeochemistry is emphasized, as well as technical skills in data collection, modeling, and statistical analysis. Cross-cutting knowledge is framed in the context of integrated water resources management. Personal competencies to be fostered in educational programs include creative thinking, cooperation, communication, and leader- ship. We consider a life-long learning context but highlight the importance of master's level training in the professional formation of ecohydrologists.
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Ecohydrology for implementation of the eu water framework directive
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Water Management, 2011Co-Authors: Maciej ZalewskiAbstract:Ecohydrology is defined as a sub-discipline of hydrology that focuses on ecological processes occurring within the hydrological cycle and strives to utilise such processes to enhance environmental sustainability. The first step in defining the role of Ecohydrology for implementation of the EU water framework directive should be the analysis of the pattern of scientific methodologies that stimulate recent progress in environmental sciences. Such progress has been directly translated into ‘good ecological status' of inland and coastal waters. From the perspective of the evolution of paradigms in environmental sciences during recent decades, three stages can be distinguished. The first two are information (structure states, relationships) and knowledge (through integration of different scientific disciplines, synergies in information can highlight the patterns and processes (e.g. Ecohydrology)). The third and most advanced stage of the science is wisdom – the ability to use information and knowledge to devel...
Francesco Laio - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Ecohydrology of Terrestrial Ecosystems
BioScience, 2010Co-Authors: Paolo D'odorico, Francesco Laio, Luca Ridolfi, Amilcare Porporato, Andrea Rinaldo, Ignacio Rodriguez-iturbeAbstract:Water controls the dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems directly, as a resource for the biota, and indirectly, as a driver for abiotic processes on the Earth's surface, in the atmosphere, and belowground. The biota, in turn, modulate several hydrological processes and the rate of the water cycle. Here we review recent advances related to fundamental processes and feedbacks emerging from the interactions among hydrologic processes and ecosystems, with a particular focus on soil moisture dynamics and river flow. Most terrestrial vegetation interacts with hydrological processes through the soil-water balance, which is affected by soil properties, random climate drivers, and feedbacks with the biota. River flow enhances the ecohydrological connectivity of the landscape, spreading sediments, nutrients, propagules, and waterborne disease through waterways.
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Ecohydrology of groundwater dependent ecosystems 1 stochastic water table dynamics
Water Resources Research, 2009Co-Authors: Francesco Laio, Stefania Tamea, Luca Ridolfi, Paolo Dodorico, Ignacio RodrigueziturbeAbstract:[1] Areas with a relatively shallow water table are environments where the groundwater plays a key role on the ecosystem function, and important interactions exist between hydrology and ecosystem processes. We propose here an analytical model to study the interactions between rainfall, water table, and vegetation in groundwater-dependent ecosystems. The water table dynamics are studied as a random process stochastically driven by a marked Poisson noise representing rainfall events. Infiltration, root water uptake, water flow to/from an external water body, and capillary rise are accounted for in a probabilistic description of water table fluctuations. We obtain analytical expressions for the steady state probability distribution of water table depth, which allows us to investigate the long-term behavior of water table dynamics, and their sensitivity to changes in climate, vegetation cover, and water management.
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Ecohydrology of groundwater dependent ecosystems 2 stochastic soil moisture dynamics
Water Resources Research, 2009Co-Authors: Stefania Tamea, Francesco Laio, Luca Ridolfi, Paolo Dodorico, Ignacio RodrigueziturbeAbstract:[1] In groundwater-dependent ecosystems, interactions between rainfall, water table fluctuations, and vegetation are exerted through the soil water content. The dynamics of soil moisture, in fact, are strongly coupled to fluctuations of the water table and, together, they control the overall ecosystem dynamics. We propose here a simple process-based stochastic model for the study of soil moisture dynamics at a generic depth, to complement the stochastic model of water table depth presented in the companion paper. The model presented here is based on a local and depth-dependent water balance driven by stochastic rainfall (marked Poisson noise) and accounting for processes such as rainfall infiltration, root water uptake, and capillary rise. We obtain a semianalytical formulation of the stationary probability distribution of soil water content at different depths, which is studied for different values of soil, climate, and vegetation parameters. The probability distributions are used to investigate the Ecohydrology of groundwater-dependent ecosystems, including the quantitative description of the vegetation―water table―soil moisture interplay and the probabilistic analysis of root water uptake.
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mathematical models of vegetation pattern formation in Ecohydrology
Reviews of Geophysics, 2009Co-Authors: Fabio Borgogno, Francesco Laio, Paolo Dodorico, Luca RidolfiAbstract:[1] Highly organized vegetation patterns can be found in a number of landscapes around the world. In recent years, several authors have investigated the processes underlying vegetation pattern formation. Patterns that are induced neither by heterogeneity in soil properties nor by the local topography are generally explained as the result of spatial self-organization resulting from “symmetry-breaking instability” in nonlinear systems. In this case, the spatial dynamics are able to destabilize the homogeneous state of the system, leading to the emergence of stable heterogeneous configurations. Both deterministic and stochastic mechanisms may explain the self-organized vegetation patterns observed in nature. After an extensive analysis of deterministic theories, we review noise-induced mechanisms of pattern formation and provide some examples of applications relevant to the environmental sciences.
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Ecohydrology of water controlled ecosystems
2004Co-Authors: Amilcare Porporato, Francesco Laio, Luca Ridolfi, Paolo Dodorico, Ignacio RodrigueziturbeAbstract:Ecosystem dynamics in arid and semiarid climates are strongly dependent on the soil water availability which, in turn, is the result of a number of complex and mutually interacting hydrologic processes. This motivates the development of a process-based framework for the analysis of the soil water content in the root zone at the daily time scale. This paper reviews the results that the authors have obtained using a probabilistic–mechanistic model of soil water balance for the characterization of the seasonal regimes of soil moisture with different combinations of climate, soil, and vegetation. Average seasonal soil water content and level-crossing statistics have been used to study conditions of water stress in vegetation. The same framework has been applied to the analysis of the impact of interannual climate fluctuations on the seasonal regime of soil moisture and water stress. 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Sjoerd E A T M Van Der Zee - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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high resolution peat volume change in a northern peatland spatial variability main drivers and impact on Ecohydrology
Ecohydrology, 2019Co-Authors: Jelmer Nijp, Klaas Metselaar, Juul Limpens, Harm Bartholomeus, Mats Nilsson, Frank Berendse, Sjoerd E A T M Van Der ZeeAbstract:The depth of the groundwater table below the surface and its spatiotemporal variability are major controls on all major biogeophysical processes in northern peatlands, including Ecohydrology, carbon balance, and greenhouse gas exchange. In these ecosystems, water table fluctuations are buffered by compression and expansion of peat. Controls on peat volume change and its spatial variability, however, remain elusive, hampering accurate assessment of climate change impact on functioning of peatlands. We therefore (1) analysed patterning of seasonal surface elevation change at high spatial resolution (0.5 m); (2) assessed its relationship with vegetation, geohydrology, and position within the peatland; and (3) quantified the consequences for peatland surface topography and Ecohydrology. Changes in surface elevation were monitored using digital close-range photogrammetry along a transect in a northern peatland from after snowmelt up to midgrowing season (May–July). Surface elevation change was substantial and varied spatially from −0.062 to +0.012 m over the measurement period. Spatial patterns of peat volume change were correlated up to 40.8 m. Spatial variation of peat volume change was mainly controlled by changes in water table, and to a lesser extent to vegetation, with peat volume change magnitude increasing from lawn
