Global environmental changes impact soil hydraulic functions through biophysical feedbacks

Robinson, David A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7290-4867; Hopmans, Jan W.; Filipovic, Vilim; van der Ploeg, Martine; Lebron, Inma ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8610-9717; Jones, Scott B.; Reinsch, Sabine ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4649-0677; Jarvis, Nick; Tuller, Markus. 2019 Global environmental changes impact soil hydraulic functions through biophysical feedbacks. Global Change Biology, 25 (6). 1895-1904. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14626

Before downloading, please read NORA policies.

Preview

Text N522703PP.pdf - Accepted Version Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract/Summary

Although only representing 0.05% of global freshwater, or 0.001% of all global water, soil water supports all terrestrial biological life. Soil moisture behaviour in most models is constrained by hydraulic parameters that do not change. Here we argue that biological feedbacks from plants, macro‐fauna and the microbiome influence soil structure, and thus the soil hydraulic parameters and the soil water content signals we observe. Incorporating biological feedbacks into soil hydrological models is therefore important for understanding environmental change and its impacts on ecosystems. We anticipate that environmental change will accelerate and modify soil hydraulic function. Increasingly we understand the vital role that soil moisture exerts on the carbon cycle and other environmental threats such as heatwaves, droughts and floods, wildfires, regional precipitation patterns, disease regulation and infrastructure stability, in addition to agricultural production. Biological feedbacks may result in changes to soil hydraulic function that could be irreversible, resulting in alternative stable states (ASS) of soil moisture. To explore this, we need models that consider all the major feedbacks between soil properties and soil‐plant‐faunal‐microbial‐atmospheric processes, which is something we currently do not have. Therefore, a new direction is required to incorporate a dynamic description of soil structure and hydraulic property evolution into soil‐plant‐atmosphere, or land surface, models that consider feedbacks from land use and climate drivers of change, so as to better model ecosystem dynamics.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14626
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Soils and Land Use (Science Area 2017-)
ISSN:	1354-1013
Additional Keywords:	soil water content, state shift, soil physics, infiltration, water repellency, biophysical feedbacks, hydraulic, environmental change
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment Hydrology Agriculture and Soil Science
Date made live:	28 Mar 2019 12:27 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/522703

Actions (login required)

View Item

Document Downloads

More statistics for this item...