Ecohydrologic regimes – shifts, controls, and open questions
Sally Thompson
Theories in nonlinear dynamics and complexity have found considerable application
in ecohydrology and community ecology. They have provided a powerful lens
through which to understand bistabilities, regime shifts and complex phenomena
such as spatial organization. With much of the theoretical background for these
approaches arising from the field of theoretical biology, there remains considerable
scope to improve understanding of the hydrological implications of the coupled
vegetation – water systems that have been explored to date. This improvement in
understanding demands several non-trivial theoretical developments including:
- coupling of fast and slow processes (e.g. fast processes of rainfall
redistribution during storm events coupled with slow processes of
vegetation community growth and change)
- identification of minimal representations of key hydrologic dynamics that
can preserve flexibility and model efficiency without compromising physical
representations
- deep integration of observational data into these theoretical regimes.
In this talk I will offer examples from current and recent research that highlight the
opportunities and challenges associated with each of these necessary
improvements, mostly in the context of plant – water relationships at landscape
scale.