Blog Archives

MEET A LEAF: Jose Gaona

6/28/2021

Jose Gaona is an independent consultant in ecohydrology. He works as a consultant for the UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme and is lecturer on Ecohydrology at Javeriana University (Colombia) for the MSc on Hydrosystems. Twitter: ecohydrology_co

What does ecohydrology mean to you?
For me, in general terms, it means the science to understand dual regulation (biota-hydrology interaction) in the socio-ecological systems to improve quality of life by increasing resilience of the whole system to further impacts. Ecohydrology allows an analysis from different scales.

What are your undergraduate and graduate degrees in?
I obtained my degree on Ecology from Javeriana University, Colombia. Then the MSc International Land and Water Management from Wageningen University, The Netherlands.

How did you arrive at working in/thinking about ecohydrology?
During an internship of the MSc in the groundwater department of the UNESCO IHP I learned about the Ecohydrology programme. Since then, I started little by little to understand why the study of Ecology and then its relation with land and water is so important and feasible to apply as management tool.

What do you see as an important emerging area of ecohydrology?
I wrote a book with other colleagues and described the applications of ecohydrology in a South American country. Since that experience, I visualize the importance of ecotones, nature fluxes, rainwater management, urban ecohydrology, as main areas of research in the near future.

Do you have a favorite ecohydrology paper? Describe/explain.
I have been reading many papers on ecohydrology, most of them from the Ecohydrology and Hydrobiology Journal, but one paper from other journal, capture my attention: Homogenization of the terrestrial water cycle of Levia et al, (2020) in Nature . It describes the ecohydrological perspective from a different angle, specially why the policymakers and practitioners must consider water–vegetation interactions in their land-management decisions. For me, this means that this paper opens a new conversation among other professionals, not only the people working with ecohydrology. I believe this is very important to disseminate the ecohydrology concept.

What do you do for fun (apart from ecohydrology)?
I like outdoor landscapes and try to spend some weekends with my family out there. During weekdays I do cycling uphill to the “Alto de Patios (3035 m.a.s.l.)” once a week.

0 Comments

MEET A LEAF: Anna Klamerus-Iwan

6/21/2021

0 Comments

Dr. Anna Klamerus-Iwan is a University Professor at the Faculty of Forestry, Department of Forest Utilization, University of Agriculture in Krakow.

What does ecohydrology mean to you?
Ecohydrology combines lessons drawn from ecology and hydrology. It is a means to discover and understand the ordinarily concealed interactions between organisms (biocenosis), anthropogenic factors (e.g. air pollution) and the hydrological cycle. My work has so far convinced me that no factor influencing the water capacity of ecosystem elements (tree crowns, bark, dead wood, soil) can be considered in isolation from others. I have studied how pollution and fungal infections increase water storage capacity of leaves and how the pollution reduces the retention properties of lichens. Ecohydrology strives to leverage these natural mechanics to engineer and increase the retention capacity of forests, especially in the context of climate change.

What are your undergraduate and graduate degrees in?
M.Sc. degree with thesis entitled "Research on water absorbability of soil skeleton and the degree of its weathering in mountain soils."
Ph.D of Forestry Degree in Forest Hydrology with dissertation entitled „Interception of selected trees under laboratory research conditions”.

I also completed the stage called habilitation on the basis of a series of publications under the common title: "Factors influencing the water capacity of forest tree crowns and the wettability of plant material" (field of forest sciences> forestry> forest hydrology).

This was all accomplished in the Department of Forestry Faculty at Agricultural University in Krakow.

How did you arrive at working in/thinking about ecohydrology?
The current direction of my research is focused on the hydrology associated with determining the interception water capacity of tree canopy and with the physical properties of plant material affecting the wettability of leaves and needles. I also explore other components of the forest ecosystem, such as dead wood, lichen and moss. Within this area of research, I conduct laboratory and field measurements aimed to determine an effect of a single tree and the changes in it that affect the amount of water that reaches the bottom of the forest.

Earlier on in my research I focused on issues related to the calculation of water reserves in mountain soils. The issue of the laboratory approach to the study of water absorption of the ground skeleton, including the degree of its weathering was the subject of my master's thesis. The culmination of my work in this area were two patents of the Republic of Poland, which I co-authored. The patents concern both the device for acquiring the research material needed to determine the measures of soil skeleton weathering degree and the method of determining the measures of soil skeleton weathering in a dry and water environment.

I am currently revisiting these soil related topics in my exploration of retention in newly developing ecosystems in post-mining sites and in cities. This seems to be a broad direction in which I am going with my research.

What do you see as an important emerging area of ecohydrology?
Seemingly small hydrological changes in local forest complexes and changes in the amount and intensity of rains, which make up the overall picture of water that is increasingly difficult for plants to access.

Do you have a favorite ecohydrology paper? Describe/explain.
I participated in the book "Precipitation partitioning by vegetation" edited by John van Stan, Ethan Gutmann and Jan Friesen (2020) and I must say that this is a truly comprehensive approach to partitioning issues. It was a great pleasure to work in such a team. I really like the fact that apart from scientific articles, there are richly illustrated versions popularizing important hydrological issues, e.g.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315744259_Graphic_novella_Plant_Invasion_Alters_Canopy_Ecohydrology

I would also like to mention:
Doerr, G.J.; Kempthorne, D.M.; Mayo, L.C.; Forster, W.A.; Zabkiewicz, J.A.; McCue, S.W.; Belward, J.A.; Turner, I.W.; Hanan, J. Towards a model of spraycanopy interactions: Interception, shatter, bounce and retention of droplets on horizontal leaves. Ecol. Model. 2014, 290, 94–101.
Keim, R.F.; Skaugset, A.E.; Weiler, M. Storage of water on vegetation under simulated rainfall of varyingintensity.Adv. Water Resour.2006,29, 974–986.

This is where my adventure with ecohydrology began.

What do you do for fun (apart from ecohydrology)?
I really like traveling and visiting new places. Recently, I discovered urban gardening.

0 Comments

MEET A LEAF: Rodrigo Vargas

6/14/2021

0 Comments

Dr. Rodrigo Vargas is a Professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at the University of Delaware, USA. Twitter: @vargaslab

What does ecohydrology mean to you?
As an ecosystem ecologist, I see ecohydrology within a broad extent as an approach to couple hydrological processes with other ecosystem processes across spatial and temporal scales. Ecohydrology enables us to think about water and energy fluxes and their sensitivity to changes in environmental conditions and anthropogenic management. Furthermore, ecohydrology is about coupling systems and processes but is increasingly important to add the role of human societies into the equation. I have used this perspective to research carbon and water dynamics from water-limited ecosystems to coastal wetlands where hydrological processes are contrasting and influence ecosystems in very different ways.

What are your undergraduate and graduate degrees in?
My undergraduate degree is a "Licenciatura" in Biology from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico (UNAM), Mexico. During this degree I was introduced to how water influences biogeochemical cycles as I did a study on nitrogen fixation by periphyton in a tropical wetland. I went to the University of California-Riverside, USA, to study a PhD in Environmental Science where I studied carbon dynamics in a water-limited ecosystem (California, USA) and a tropical forest (Yucatan, Mexico).

How did you arrive at working in/thinking about ecohydrology?
My first experience was as an undergraduate with a study about how hydrological seasonality influences nitrogen fixation by periphyton in a tropical wetland. I was amazed about how organisms can sustain temperatures >65 deg C with no access to water and reactivate their metabolism within hours after the first rain. During my PhD, I had the opportunity to work in a water-limited ecosystem and explore how water pulses regulate soil CO2 fluxes and mycorrhizae growth. In addition, I worked in a tropical forest and had the opportunity to study how plants and soils respond to a large wind (and water) disturbance caused by a category 4 hurricane (hurricane Wilma in 2005). After my PhD, I had the opportunity to continue working on ecohydrology across water-limited ecosystems in Baja California (Mexico), New Mexico (USA), Almeria (Spain), and with collaborative synthesis studies around the world. I moved to the University of Delaware in 2012 and I started studying a coastal wetland. Here, I have been introduced to a completely different approach for ecohydrology and the importance of hydrodynamics, and this ecosystem opened new challenges, learning and research opportunities. In a nutshell, I have studied how too much water, the scarcity of water, the timing of water pulses, and the quality of water influence biogeochemical cycles across different ecosystems.

What do you see as an important emerging area of ecohydrology?
I am excited about terrestrial-aquatic interfaces. As I said, I have had the opportunity to work on terrestrial ecosystems but the ecohydrological paradigms established for these ecosystems may not be fully applicable in wetlands and across the terrestrial-aquatic interface. Studying ecohydrology in these interfaces requires developing and application of new approaches; for example, we need to revisit how we measure mass (and energy) fluxes as we must consider vertical and lateral fluxes. We need to have closer collaborations among disciplines to integrate hydrodynamics with biogeochemical processes to better understand the response of terrestrial-aquatic interfaces to climate change. Furthermore, I strongly believe that we need to better communicate how ecohydrological processes impact human societies and how scientific understanding is useful for developing policies and management practice to secure a sustainable future.

Do you have a favorite ecohydrology paper? Describe/explain.
I would like to share two books that have influenced my vision on ecohydrology across ecosystems. One is about ecohydrology in water limited ecosystems that details the role of soil moisture on plant ecology (Rodríguez-Iturbe and Porporato, 2007). The other is about ecohydrology in estuaries which brings a completely different perspective by introducing the importance of water in mass transport and ecological processes in coastal ecosystems (Wolanski and Elliott, 2015). These are two very different approaches of ecohydrology but that need to be integrated for a better understanding of terrestrial-aquatic interfaces. Finally, there are many classic papers on ecohydrology that have been highlighted before, but I have been fascinated by the capacity of plants to access nutrients and roots from bedrock... mycorrhizal hypha can penetrate granite bedrock and extract nutrients and water to enable plants to survive seasonal drought (Egerton-Warburton et al 2003). The knowledge from water-limited ecosystems to coastal wetlands and the deep access of water and resources shows the complexity that ecohydrology brings to our understanding of ecosystems...so much fun and so much to do!

What do you do for fun (apart from ecohydrology)?
I enjoy hiking, trail running, and recently my wife and me have returned to indoor rock climbing with our son. I have also been doing Crossfit for the last 4 years...do not judge me!

0 Comments

MEET A LEAF: qian zhang

6/7/2021

0 Comments

Dr. Qian Zhang is an Assistant Research Scientist. He works for the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) at the USEPA Chesapeake Bay Program Office. Twitter: https://twitter.com/qianzhang1.

What does ecohydrology mean to you?
It means interdisciplinary. Apparently, ecohydrology is at the intersection of hydrology and ecology, leveraging science from both disciplines to protect/restore ecosystems. It should also be recognized that ecohydrology has evolved rapidly to encompass additional disciplines. To my own experience and interests, ecohydrology studies the sources and transfers of water and associated materials (e.g., nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment) and their effects on inland and coastal ecosystems (e.g., Chesapeake Bay).

What are your undergraduate and graduate degrees in?
I received my B.E. degree in Environmental Engineering from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. I received my M.S.E and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University (JHU). I also obtained a M.S.E. degree in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from JHU, since statistics played an essential role in my dissertation research.

How did you arrive at working in/thinking about ecohydrology?
This journey started when I was a kid. Back then I lived in a small city in the northern China, where many streams and ponds had severe algal blooms due to industrialization. This has helped motivate me to dedicate myself to protect the environment and natural resources. For that reason, I chose to study Environmental Engineering at NTU for my bachelor’s degree. Upon graduation from NTU I was offered an opportunity by Prof. Bill Ball to join his team at JHU to conduct research on Chesapeake Bay. I had no hesitation and soon embarked on this incredible journey with the hope that my work with the Chesapeake will also benefit the restoration of rivers and estuaries elsewhere (including my hometown in China, of course). During my years at JHU, I have focused on applying statistical approaches to quantify nutrient and sediment loads and their temporal trends in the major tributaries to Chesapeake Bay. Shortly after my graduation at JHU I started my current position at UMCES. I always feel very blessed to have the opportunity to continue research on Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. With this position, I apply scientific principles and statistical approaches to the incredible amount of data sets from the Bay Program Partnership to explore the natural and anthropogenic-based causes behind the status and trends in the water quality of Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, which is critical to defining the success of the Chesapeake Bay and watershed restoration efforts to date and to making science-based management decisions in the foreseeable future. Although I do not often label myself as a ecohydrologist, I have already worked in this field for over a decade!

What do you see as an important emerging area of ecohydrology?
Eutrophication and hypoxia have caused ecological degradation in many areas, primarily due to excessive nutrients from anthropogenic sources. I consider this an important topic of ecohydrology and expect it to further advance for several reasons. First, our conceptual model of the problem has been evolving over time (e.g., see Dr. Cloern’s review paper, https://dx.doi.org/10.3354/meps210223). Second, restoration efforts have been carried out in many areas, but not all are successful. In this regard, cross-ecosystem analysis and synthesis will help us understand why or why not we are working toward the right direction (e.g., see Dr. Boesch’s recent review paper, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00123). Third, the community will benefit from the increasing amounts of data in terms of spatial coverage, temporal resolution, and data types, which provide valuable information regarding ecosystem functioning and help generate plausible hypotheses on underlying drivers. Fourth, machine learning approaches are being increasingly adopted by the community, which complement with process-based models. As a community, we need actively leverage these resources (data and tools) to better understand the temporal and spatial patterns of eutrophication and the effects and interactions of stressors and translate our understanding to effective management strategies toward ecosystem restoration.

Do you have a favorite ecohydrology paper? Describe/explain.
It is difficult to pick one. I will go with the recent Science paper by Palmer and Ruhi, “Linkages between flow regime, biota, and ecosystem processes: Implications for river restoration.” In this review, the authors explain how restoration designs now attempt to mimic ecologically important aspects of natural flow regimes. They point out that in order to be successful, efforts must go beyond accounting for flood pulses to restore natural flow variability and achieve hydrological connectivity between a river and its surroundings.

What do you do for fun (apart from ecohydrology)?
I used to play soccer a lot when I was a student, spanning 20+ years from elementary school to graduate school. When I was at Johns Hopkins, I led the soccer team formed by Chinese students and scholars. Now, I have two boys (age 6 and 4), so less time is spent on soccer. During free time we like to bring the boys out to explore the beautiful nature, especially Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

0 Comments

MEET A LEAF: Jose Gaona

MEET A LEAF: Anna Klamerus-Iwan

MEET A LEAF: Rodrigo Vargas

MEET A LEAF: qian zhang

Author

Archives

Categories