Ecohydrological interfaces as hot spots of ecosystem processes

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Krause, Stefan and Lewandowski, Jörg and Grimm, Nancy B. and Hannah, David M. and Pinay, Gilles and McDonald, Karlie and Martí, Eugènia and Argerich, Alba and Pfister, Laurent and Klaus, Julian and Battin, Tom and Larned, Scott T. and Schelker, Jacob and Fleckenstein, Jan and Schmidt, Christian and Rivett, Michael O. and Watts, Glenn and Sabater, Francesc and Sorolla, Albert and Turk, Valentina (2017) Ecohydrological interfaces as hot spots of ecosystem processes. Water Resources Research, 53 (8). pp. 6359-6376. ISSN 1944-7973 (https://doi.org/10.1002/2016WR019516)

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Abstract

The movement of water, matter, organisms, and energy can be altered substantially at ecohydrological interfaces, the dynamic transition zones that often develop within ecotones or boundaries between adjacent ecosystems. Interdisciplinary research over the last two decades has indicated that ecohydrological interfaces are often “hot spots” of ecological, biogeochemical, and hydrological processes and may provide refuge for biota during extreme events. Ecohydrological interfaces can have significant impact on global hydrological and biogeochemical cycles, biodiversity, pollutant removal, and ecosystem resilience to disturbance. The organizational principles (i.e., the drivers and controls) of spatially and temporally variable processes at ecohydrological interfaces are poorly understood and require the integrated analysis of hydrological, biogeochemical, and ecological processes. Our rudimentary understanding of the interactions between different drivers and controls critically limits our ability to predict complex system responses to change. In this paper, we explore similarities and contrasts in the functioning of diverse freshwater ecohydrological interfaces across spatial and temporal scales. We use this comparison to develop an integrated, interdisciplinary framework, including a roadmap for analyzing ecohydrological processes and their interactions in ecosystems. We argue that, in order to fully account for their nonlinear process dynamics, ecohydrological interfaces need to be conceptualized as unique, spatially and temporally dynamic entities, which represents a step change from their current representation as boundary conditions at investigated ecosystems.

ORCID iDs

Krause, Stefan, Lewandowski, Jörg, Grimm, Nancy B., Hannah, David M., Pinay, Gilles, McDonald, Karlie, Martí, Eugènia, Argerich, Alba, Pfister, Laurent, Klaus, Julian, Battin, Tom, Larned, Scott T., Schelker, Jacob, Fleckenstein, Jan, Schmidt, Christian, Rivett, Michael O. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4626-7985, Watts, Glenn, Sabater, Francesc, Sorolla, Albert and Turk, Valentina;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)