Hydrology and Earth System Sciences

Changes in natural (e.g. climate change) and anthropogenic (e.g. land use) forcings will undoubtedly affect hydrological cycles and water availability at all scales. The mechanism and consequence of changes in hydrological processes on ecosystems and societies are still not well understood. These uncertainties hinder our ability to develop effective adaptation strategies to minimize the adverse effects of hydrological alternations on natural and human-dominated landscapes. Ecohydrological science has advanced rapidly in the past few decades in response to many of the immediate needs of solving modern environmental and resource issues, especially water and food shortages. We foresee that ecohydrologists will be increasingly called upon to address questions regarding large-scale vegetation water use and water security issues in the future. This special issue provides an opportunity for international experts in ecohydrology and global change hydrology to share recent advances in understanding the interactions between climate, water, carbon sequestration, biogeochemistry, and land management practices such as reforestation, ecological restoration, and bioenergy development. This special issue will address the dynamic interactions among climate, hydrology, vegetation, soil, and anthropogenic activities at watershed to regional sales. In particular, it will focus on the following three aspects of recent advances in ecohydrological science:

1. New understanding of the consequences of anthropogenic activities (e.g. deforestation, water management) and climate change on water cycles, water quality and biogeochemical dynamics under various geographical and socioeconomical conditions.
2. The advances in new technology applications in ecohydrological research such as integrated simulation models, remote sensing, GIS, isotopes, eddy flux techniques.
3. Case studies on the applications of ecohydrological principles in mitigating impacts of human disturbances and climate change on water resources