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MEET A LEAF: Rafael Bras

12/28/2020

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Dr. Rafael L. Bras is a Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the Schools of Civil and Environmental Engineering and of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.
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What does ecohydrology mean to you?
Ecohydrology is the integration of the hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere. That we had to create a term to describe what we should be doing speaks to how wrong, and myopic, we were just a few years ago. It should be obvious that at certain scales in space and time those elements of the Earth system must evolve together in an exquisite dance.

What are your undergraduate and graduate degrees in?
My undergraduate degree was in Civil Engineering, focusing on the environmental side – there was no Environmental Engineering then. My MS is in Civil Engineering – Water Resources and my Sc.D. in Hydrology and Water Resources. All my degrees are from MIT, where I spent most of my professional career.

How did you arrive at working in/thinking about ecohydrology?
I have had the opportunity of participating in the definition and emergence of modern hydrology. As a graduate student in the early 1970’s, experts commonly stated that “land masses were not important to the Earth climate”. That quote from an oceanographer – whose name I do not remember – has always stayed with me because it is absolute and wrong. It served as a motivator of much of my work. I was lucky in having Professors Peter S. Eagleson and Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe as mentors and then colleagues. They pioneered eco-hydrology and much of modern hydrology. They championed the inseparable relationship between land and atmosphere, an idea that I follow in all my work and have worked to build into the education of over 70 students and post-docs that I have been privileged to mentor.

Quoting from a small piece I wrote at the occasion of my offering the 2020 Langbein Lecture: “Back in 1987, Pete Eagleson and I wrote an editorial in EOS, entitled: Hydrology, The Forgotten Earth Science (Bras and Eagleson, 1987). We argued that development of hydrology had been driven by societal problems at such a rate that: “The cultivation of hydrology as a science per se has not occurred, and there has been no established platform within the hierarchy of science on which to build a coherent understanding of the global water cycle”.” I feel satisfied that we have come a long way since then, largely because of the recognition that the hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere are inseparable – ecohydrology.
 
What do you see as an important emerging area of ecohydrology?
In over 35 years since the emergence of ecohydrology, we have just touched the tip of the iceberg and remain at infancy. Much of our work has been focused in quantifying how plants mediate the hydrologic and energy cycles and how, in turn, they are a product of the very same environment they create. We have approached the problem at the conceptual, system, level – largely because we do not know any better and because anyone of us is limited in our knowledge of everything that plays into how climate, soil, vegetation and the hydrosphere operate. We lack sufficient, in-depth, knowledge to be predictive of all the interactions that occur in nature. The only way to overcome this situation will be to learn to work in teams of people with different in-depth knowledge. We must start by agreeing on a common language to communicate. Particularly important areas that that remain to be explored in the context of ecohydrology are the microbial ecosystem and improving predictability of the inevitable changes that a warming climate will bring about.

Do you have a favorite ecohydrology paper?  Describe/explain.
To me, the cornerstone work is that of Peter S. Eagleson in a series of 7 papers, all published in an issue of Water Resources Research in 1978, with the common title “Climate, Soil and Vegetation”. This was the first, and boldest, attempt to quantify (not just describe) a climate, soil, vegetation system, what we now call ecohydrology. He later published a book that captured and expanded on his ideas -  Ecohydrology: Darwinian Expression of Vegetation Form and Function, Cambridge University Press, 2004. Eagleson was bold in many ways. First, he brought together an extraordinary diverse set of knowledge into one hypothesis. Second, he hypothesized a debatable concept of pseudo-equilibrium, a climax, among all the different components of the Earth system. To me this is a beautiful idea which, at its essence, I believe correct. We are a product of chance and necessity. Third, he had the courage to quantify all the relationships he postulated. This work was the foundation of ecohydrology.

What do you do for fun (apart from ecohydrology)?
I have to begin by saying that I simply love all I do. Since very early on, 1982, I developed my career in parallel to increasing administrative responsibilities, culminating as Provost of Georgia Tech, a position I just left. But I am far more than my work. I am inherently curious about almost anything and enjoy everything from history to politics. I enjoy my family and share as much time as we can together. I have always had a little adventurous streak in me. I was an active single engine airplane pilot. I love scuba diving – although do not do it as often as I would like. I have glided and jumped out of airplanes. These days I love driving my sports car and riding my horses with my wife. Life has been good to me and if I had to do it over again, I still would be a professor, the best job ever, and a hydrologist.
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MEET A LEAF: Ana Ochoa-Sánchez

12/21/2020

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Ana Ochoa-Sánchez is a Lecturer in the School of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Azuay, Cuenca, Ecuador.
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What does ecohydrology mean to you?
Ecohydrology is understanding the functioning of the ecosystem through analysing the interactions of physical and biological processes (e.g. climate, vegetation and soil). I think ecohydrology is key to fully comprehend our ecosystems by taking into account biotic and abiotic factors. During the last years, I have been working in understanding evapotranspiration dynamics and components in the high Andean grasslands; and therefore, for me, ecohydrology means unravelling ecosystems functioning with a later purpose of understanding climate and land use change impacts, and propose how to improve management.

What are your undergraduate and graduate degrees in?
I graduated from Civil Engineering at University of Cuenca in Ecuador. Then, I travelled to Belgium and followed a Master in the Interuniversity Programme in Water Resources Engineering between the KU Leuven and VUB. Last year, I obtained my PhD in Water Resources from the Interuniversity Programme between University of Cuenca, National Polytechnic School, and Technical Particular University of Loja in Ecuador.

How did you arrive at working in/thinking about ecohydrology?
I have worked in different research projects about water quality, climatology, hydraulic modelling and ecohydrology. I got to see a bit about different topics. When I was working with climate models in the high Andean catchments, our models were performing poorly. In order to improve them, I thought we needed to increase knowledge about local climate processes for sure, but also about our understanding of the complete system. At that time, a PhD position opened in ecohydrology where I found the opportunity to pursue a topic that became so interesting and fulfilling for me.

What do you see as an important emerging area of ecohydrology?
For poorly monitored sites, I think the comprehensive understanding of ecosystems is vital. Looking at the interactions between water, vegetation and soil needs intensive monitoring but it is worth it. After reaching that point, I think implementing models that are more precise in representing biotic and abiotic factors will help to answer, more effectively, questions about climate and land use changes. This will be especially important to advance in adaptation strategies and better water management decisions.

Do you have a favorite ecohydrology paper?  Describe/explain.
I am a fan of some authors that awoke my interest in ecohydrology. For example, Prof. Bruijnzeel, widely known as Sampurno, who has a vast work in the functioning of tropical forests, I especially like his papers on interception. I like the work of Prof. Heidi Asbjornsen, Prof. Jeffrey Mcdonell and Prof. Bradford Wilcox. Of course, the valuable work of Prof. Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe in ecohydrology is outstanding. I will peak then a paper of his, that made me understand what ecohydrology means: “Ecohydrology: A hydrologic perspective of climate-soil-vegetation dynamics”. It is not a research article but a vision for the future, written in 2000, that has lead the path of ecohydrology. He wrote about the space-time links between climate, soil, and vegetation. He stated “the necessity to gain a predictive understanding based on solid and quantitative scientific grounds of the responses of different biomes to a changing global environment”. Finally, he encouraged young researchers to be interested in understanding nature and pursuing their own dreams.

What do you do for fun (apart from ecohydrology)?
I love walking in nature with my family. We live near the Cajas National Park, where we usually go for fishing and for beautiful mountain sightseeing. I also enjoy astronomy readings and listening to music.
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MEET A LEAF: Gretchen Miller

12/14/2020

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​Dr. Gretchen Miller is an Associate Professor at Texas A&M University in Civil and Environmental Engineering.
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What does ecohydrology mean to you?
I have always thought of ecohydrology as the study of that most neglected part of the water balance, evapotranspiration. But that may be too narrow, and I am beginning to expand my view on this. Recharge is definitely more neglected.

What are your undergraduate and graduate degrees in?
I earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geological engineering, from the Missouri University of Science and Technology, which at the time was the University of Missouri – Rolla. I then did my doctorate in Environmental Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley. The combination of topics gave me an excellent foundation for working on my main research area, groundwater dependent ecosystems.

How did you arrive at working in/thinking about ecohydrology?
When I originally started my doctorate, I had intended to go into stochastic hydrogeology for hazardous waste applications. However, when I arrived at Berkeley, my advisor, Yoram Rubin, said, “You know, there’s a new area that’s getting attention, and given your talent for field work, I think you might be good at it.” We started working on a savanna model, which brought in my co-advisor, Dennis Baldocchi, and his field site at Tonzi Ranch. From there, I found that I really enjoyed both and have pursued an integrated modeling and measurement approach in my work since.

What do you see as an important emerging area of ecohydrology?
To me, Earth system modeling is one recent effort where ecohydrologists are making significant contributions. The land surface has always been an important boundary condition in climate models. However, the recent push towards integrated multi-physics, multi-scale codes will be key to understanding how the biosphere and the geosphere shape and are shaped by future climate. As we are typically trained in a very interdisciplinary manner, I believe ecohydrologists are well poised to contribute in this arena.

Do you have a favorite ecohydrology paper?  Describe/explain.
Ignacio Rodríguez-Iturbe and Amilcare Porporato published their now classic book Ecohydrology of Water Controlled Ecosystems: Soil Moisture and Plant Dynamics right as I was beginning to work in the field, so the papers collected within it have always been extremely influential in my thinking. Lately, I’ve also come to appreciate works that examine the interconnection between groundwater depletion and agricultural production, which as a matter of food security continues to be a more pressing issue than we realize. Bridget Scanlon and Megan Kronar both have several compelling papers addressing this, making it difficult to pick a favorite.

What do you do for fun (apart from ecohydrology)?
These days, my fun is quite kid-orientated – activities like scootering around the neighborhood, constructing Lego buildings, and being chased by zombies in Minecraft. When I do have spare time, I’ve been learning to play piano. It’s been a while since I’ve seriously played an instrument, the last time being the trombone in high school marching band. Music has been a great way to switch off the scientist/engineer part of my brain and always seems to help when I get stuck on a tricky bit of writing.
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MEET A LEAF: Monica Garcia

12/7/2020

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Dr. Monica Garcia is an Associate Professor at Denmark Technical University in the Environmental Engineering Department.
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What does ecohydrology mean to you?
I see ecohydrology as the study of the interactions between hydrological, biogeochemical and ecological processes, especially bringing more of the biotic component into hydrology and the consideration of plants as ecosystem engineers. I like the idea of merging different ways of thinking, like evolutionary perspectives from ecology with more mechanistic from hydrology. It also means a way to provide engineering solutions that are more sustainable in response to environmental problems or agricultural management.

What are your undergraduate and graduate degrees in?
My undergrad was in agricultural engineering at the Polytechnic University in Madrid (UPM). I did a Master in Agricultural Development at the University of California, Davis, where I specialized in remote sensing and a PhD in Environmental Remote Sensing. I was really lucky to be part of a blended program at the UPM and the Center for Spatial Technologies and Remote Sensing (CSTARS) at UC Davis with Susan Ustin.

How did you arrive at working in/thinking about ecohydrology?
I had an implicit interest on it before knowing the term since my PhD when I studied resilience of vegetation productivity to climate variability using remote sensing in California. I learnt about plant ecology, soil- plant-water relations expanding from a somewhat more reductionist view I had from my engineering background.

I only became familiar with ecohydrology as a discipline during my postdoc years, working on water-limited environments. In Spain, the group of Juan Puigdefábregas, at the Experimental Station of Arid lands (CSIC), was doing pioneer research on the role of vegetation patterns and vegetation interactions on hydrological processes. I started working with them in 2005 on a project on land degradation and groundwater. We wanted to quantify groundwater recharge in a region where a massive land use change of 26,000 ha. of plastic greenhouses, visible from space, was causing groundwater depletion and other environmental problems. Getting right the evapotranspiration of natural vegetation in the mountain range was key. This work sparked my interest on how plants influence the hydrological cycle via stomatal regulation and carbon allocation and how to model that in natural semiarid vegetation. Another part of my research in those years was on understanding how ecosystem functioning changed across land degradation/restoration trajectories to develop global remote sensing indicators of ecological status.

What do you see as an important emerging area of ecohydrology?
Using remote sensing data from satellites and drones can help to answer questions at multiple scales, assess the role of vegetation patterns on ecohydrological feedbacks, or help to integrate terrestrial and aquatic processes, like carbon flows, at the watershed level.  A joint use of hyperspectral, thermal, LiDAR, photogrammetry or microwave data can retrieve plant function and structural traits, soil properties, soil moisture in terrestrial ecosystems or streamflows and water quality indicators like CDOM in freshwater ecosystems. From the remote sensing side, think that it is crucial to investigate mechanistic links between plant function and absorption, reflectance and emission radiation to move beyond machine learning/statistical methods or tuning effective model parameters with in situ data in process based models.

For me it is very exciting to see the current progress in understanding  vegetation carbon, energy and water fluxes in relation to plant hydraulic traits, thermal regulation or the relations between functional, taxonomic and spectral diversity. However, I think most of the land surface models are lagging behind in incorporating some of those aspects, for instance still categorize ecosystems in terms of plant functional types. Considering these processes will help to improve predictions of tree mortality due to heat waves or assess community demography changes in relation to climate.


Do you have a favorite ecohydrology paper?  Describe/explain.
It is difficult to say just one…Those that developed a theoretical basis of ecohydrology as a science in drylands like the book of Eagleson, P. (2002). Ecohydrology: Darwinian Expression of Vegetation Form and Function. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511535680.
Recently, I have been inspired by the review from Mencuccini, M., Manzoni, S., & Christoffersen, B. (2019). Modelling water fluxes in plants: from tissues to biosphere. New Phytologist, 222(3), 1207–1222 about scalability of traits or the need to consider plant hydraulics to explain plant ecological strategies and dynamics.


What do you do for fun (apart from ecohydrology)?
During the dark Danish winter I enjoy watercolor painting. There is a part of letting things go, as the water flows without me being able to control it, turning into (sometimes) unexpectedly beautiful patterns. I also love walking in nature and traveling, sometimes combining work-holiday because as scientists we can go to beautiful places. In the picture, we were in Guanacaste, Costa Rica doing a spectral library for an algal bloom that was killing fish and turtles, on the side of our research.
I also have a hide-out, our cozy house in the Gredos mountains in Spain spending time with my husband, family and friends surrounded by vineyards, fig and olive trees, hearing the Arenal stream in the background while chatting around a good table...
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