Ecohydrology: Dynamics of Life and Water in the Critical Zone

Description

Ecohydrology is a fast-growing branch of science at the interface of ecology and geophysics, studying the interaction between soil, water, vegetation, microbiome, atmosphere, climate, and human society. This textbook gathers the fundamentals of hydrology, ecology, environmental engineering, agronomy, and atmospheric science to provide a rigorous yet accessible description of the tools necessary for the mathematical modelling of water, energy, carbon, and nutrient transport within the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. By focusing on the dynamics at multiple time scales, from the diurnal scale in the soil-plant-atmospheric system, to long-term stochastic dynamics of water availability responsible for ecological patterns and environmental fluctuations, it explains the impact of hydroclimatic variability on vegetation and soil microbial systems through biogeochemical cycles and ecosystems under different socioeconomical pressures. It is aimed at advanced students, researchers and professionals in hydrology, ecology, Earth science, environmental engineering, environmental science, agronomy, and atmospheric science.

Amilcare Porporato is the Thomas J. Wu '94 Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the High Meadow Environmental Institute at Princeton University. His main research focuses on nonlinear and stochastic dynamical systems, hydrometeorology, soil-atmosphere interaction, soil moisture and plant dynamics, soil biogeochemistry, and ecohydrology. He is author of more than 200 peer-reviewed papers. He is co-author of Ecohydrology of Water Controlled Ecosystems (Cambridge University Press, 2004) and co-editor of Dryland Ecohydrology (Springer, 2005). Porporato's awards include the Arturo Parisatti International Price by the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere e Arti; the Earl Brown II Outstanding Civil Engineering Faculty Award; the Hydrology award from the American Geophysical Union; and the Dalton Medal from the European Geoscience Union. Jun Yin is a Professor of Hydrometeorology at Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, China. His research focuses on the exchange of water and energy between soil, plants, and the atmosphere. He received the Outstanding Paper Award in 2019 from the China Water Forum and the Jiangsu Specially-Appointed Faculty Award in 2020 from the Jiangsu Education Department. He has co-organized two minisymposia sessions for the annual meeting of the International Society for Porous Media.

'Porporato and Yin's book provides an indispensable introduction into the fundamentals of the rapidly burgeoning discipline of Ecohydrology. The authors take the reader by the hand in a journey starting from the classical fundamentals in the water and plant related sciences to meld recent advances and interactions in these seemingly disparate fields into a coherent and comprehensive synthesis. This reliance on the basics then leads logically to the seamless exploration of a wide range of urgent issues currently facing the human environment. This book is necessary reading for every serious student of the subject.' Wilfried H. Brutsaert, Cornell University 'A magnificent exposition focused on key hydrologic dynamics at multiple scales and how their intertwined actions shape ecological patterns and processes. From ecosystem structure to Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles and the dynamics of Agroecosystems, this brilliant and wonderful book presents a comprehensive and integrated perspective of Ecohydrology which will inspire students and researchers from all environmental sciences.' Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe, Texas A&M University and Princeton University 'A much-needed textbook on Ecohydrology by two gifted researchers that covers a breathtaking extent of technical grounds, setting very high standards for any similar effort in the future. By systematically focusing on thoroughly-explained relevant processes, this book captures the reader by taking her on a fascinating journey through hydrology, ecology, Earth and environmental science, environmental engineering, and atmospheric science.' Andrea Rinaldo, Ecole Polytechnique Federale Lausanne 'This book is an excellent resource for graduate students in the developing, highly interdisciplinary field of Ecohydrology. It covers the whole range from the theoretical background and main concepts to describe the dynamics within soils, ecosystems, and the atmosphere, as well as how these approaches are implemented in simple models and applied to actual problems. This material is presented with great rigor and clarity, with supporting exercises to reflect on the described concepts.' Axel Kleidon, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry