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WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH,
VOL. 42,
W06302,
doi:10.1029/2005WR004141,
2006
Ecohydrology of water-limited environments: A scientific vision
Brent D. Newman
Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
Bradford P. Wilcox
Rangeland Ecology and Management Department, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA
Steven R. Archer
School of Natural Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
David D. Breshears
School of Natural Resources, Institute for the Study of Planet Earth, and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,
University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
Clifford N. Dahm
Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Christopher J. Duffy
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
Nate G. McDowell
Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
Fred M. Phillips
Department of Earth and Environmental Science, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, New Mexico, USA
Bridget R. Scanlon
Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
Enrique R. Vivoni
Department of Earth and Environmental Science, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, New Mexico, USA
Abstract
Water-limited environments occupy about half of the Earth's land surface and contain some of the fastest growing population
centers in the world. Scarcity or variable distributions of water and nutrients make these environments highly sensitive to
change. Given the importance of water-limited environments and the impacts of increasing demands on water supplies and other
natural resources, this paper highlights important societal problems and scientific challenges germane to these environments
and presents a vision on how to accelerate progress. We argue that improvements in our fundamental understanding of the links
between hydrological, biogeochemical, and ecological processes are needed, and the way to accomplish this is by fostering
integrated, interdisciplinary approaches to problem solving and hypothesis testing through place-based science. Such an ecohydrological
approach will create opportunities to develop new methodologies and ways of thinking about these complex environmental systems
and help us improve forecasts of environmental change.
Received 25
March
2005;
accepted 13
April
2006;
published 20
June
2006.
Keywords: arid;
ecohydrology;
semiarid.
Index Terms: 1813 Hydrology: Eco-hydrology; 1836 Hydrology: Hydrological cycles and budgets (1218, 1655); 0439 Biogeosciences: Ecosystems, structure and dynamics (4815); 0414 Biogeosciences: Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling (0412, 0793, 1615, 4805, 4912).
Read Full Article (file size: 3156185 bytes) Cited by
Citation: Newman, B. D., B. P. Wilcox, S. R. Archer, D. D. Breshears, C. N. Dahm, C. J. Duffy, N. G. McDowell, F. M. Phillips, B. R. Scanlon, and E. R. Vivoni
(2006),
Ecohydrology of water-limited environments: A scientific vision,
Water Resour. Res.,
42,
W06302,
doi:10.1029/2005WR004141.
Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.
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