Global environmental changes impact soil hydraulic functions through biophysical feedbacks

Sammanfattning

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.

Nyckelord

biophysical feedbacks; environmental change; hydraulic; infiltration; soil physics; soil water content; state shift; water repellency

Publicerad i

Global Change Biology
2019, volym: 25, nummer: 6, sidor: 1895-1904
Utgivare: WILEY

SLU författare

• Jarvis, Nicholas

  • Institutionen för mark och miljö, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

Globala målen (SDG)

SDG15 Ekosystem och biologisk mångfald

UKÄ forskningsämne

Markvetenskap
Oceanografi, hydrologi, vattenresurser

Publikationens identifierare

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14626

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/100543