Eco-Hydrology - Plants and Water in Terrestrial and Aquatic Environments (Electronic book text)

In the last two decades the importance of hydrological processes to ecosystems and the effect of plants on hydrological processes have become increasingly apparant. These relationships can be grouped under the term "Eco-hydrology." Eco-Hydrology introduces and explores diverse plant-water interactions in a range of environments. Leading ecologists and hydrologists present reviews of the eco-hydrology of drylands, wetlands, temperate and tropical rain-forrests, streams, and rivers and lakes. The authors present background information on the water relations of plants, from individual cells to stands of plants, the role of mathematical models in eco-hydrology, and explanations of how plants affect patterns and rates of water movement and storage in a range of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Eco-hydrology is the first book to offer an overview of the complex relationships between plants and water across a wide range of terrestrial and aquatic environments, and will prove invaluable as an introduction to hydrologists, ecologists, conservationists and others studying ecosystems, plant-life and hydrological processes.