Ecohydrology
Group
Department
of Geography
Department of Environment and
Sustainability
About our research:
We seek
mechanistic understanding of how
abiotic stressors, such as drought
and vegetation disturbance, and
biotic acclimation and adaptation
determine the spatial distribution
of vegetation and its controls over
water cycling. We are interested in
the critical zone, spanning from the
un-weathered bedrock and soil
interface up to the leaf-atmosphere
interface, and our research is
facilitated by the convergence of
new sensors, experimental methods,
and computer models that help make
the belowground parts of the
critical zone transparent. We build
biophysical process-based simulation
models and integrate them with data
collected in both natural settings
and manipulative experiments. Our
TREES model was the first integrated
plant ecophysiology model to follow
a complete water supply and demand
theory, and the first such model to
simulate realistic cavitation
behavior in plants. Its most recent
version is the first general plant
physiology model to simulate growth
of herbaceous as well as woody
plants, and it is the first model to
fully couple carbon cycling ahf
hydraulics to grow fine roots.
The predictive
ability of process-based models such
as TREES is important because rapid
changes to the environment make
historical empirical data analysis
alone an unreliable tool for making
inferences about future outcomes of
vegetation health. Our research
addresses many important issues
facing society, including severe and
prolonged droughts that promote
widespread forest mortality,
increase pressure on water
resources, and stress food
production. Model-based inferences
help guide policy-setting for
meeting societal goals of adapting
to these changes and mitigating
their impact.
Recent
representative titles (see
Publications):
Combining
PSII photochemistry and hydraulics
improves predictions of
photosynthesis and water use from
mild to lethal drought
Ecohydrological
decoupling under changing
disturbances and climate
Physiological trait networks
enhance understanding of crop
growth and water use in
contrasting environments
Mechanisms of woody-plant
mortality under rising drought,
CO2, and vapor pressure deficit
Conifers depend on
established roots during drought:
results from a coupled model of
carbon allocation and hydraulics.
Lateral
subsurface flow modulates forest
mortality risk to future climate
and elevated CO2
Stability
of tropical forest tree
carbon-water relations in a
rainfall exclusion treatment
through shifts in effective
water uptake depth
Hillslope
hydrology in global change
research and Earth system
modeling
Recent media attention:
WBFO - NPR News (November 15,
2021):
UB
researchers finding new methods to
test the effects of climate change
News
Release (October 19, 2021):
What's
missing from forest mortality
projections?
News
Release (December 30, 2019):
How do conifers
survive droughts?
AGU Editor's Vox:
Ecohydrology:
What's in a name?
Current
research projects:
> Expansion and stimulation of the
rhizosphere during hydraulic
redistribution
> A systems analysis of plant
growth promotion by the rhizosphere
microbiome
(see Project web site)
> Predicting genotypic variation in
growth and yield under abiotic stress
through biophysical process modeling
Relevant
education and research links:
Department of
Environment and Sustainability
Consortium of Universities for the
Advancement of Hydrologic Science
(CUAHSI)
ORCID iD
Web of Science
Author Profile
ResearchGate Profile
Google Scholar
Profile
