Hydropedology – 10 Years in the Past and 10 Years Into the Future.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013: 9:10 AM
Tampa Convention Center, Room 13, First Floor
Henry Lin, Ecosystem Science and Management, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, Hans-Joerg Vogel, Department of Soil Physics, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Halle, Germany, Brent E. Clothier, Plant and Food Research Ltd, Palmerston North, New Zealand and Xiao-Yan Li, College of Resources Science & Technology, Beijing Normal Univ., Beijing, China
The 1st hydropedology symposium was held 10 years ago in 2003 at the Tri-Societies annual meetings in Denver, CO. Since then, hydropedology has been recognized by a number of professional societies and a significant number of publications have been generated. This interdisciplinary science has now evolved into addressing the following two fundamental questions: 1) how do soil architecture and the distribution of soils over the landscape exert a first-order control on hydrologic processes (and associated biogeochemical dynamics and ecological functions) across spatio-temporal scales? And 2) how do landscape hydrologic processes (and the associated transport of energy, sediment, chemicals, and biomaterials by flowing water) influence soil genesis, evolution, variability, and functions? Hydropedology brings renewed perspectives in revealing the secrets underfoot, embracing a focus on water as a unifying theme for understanding complex subsurface, and promoting a holistic approach towards integrating water with soil, rock, air, and biotic resources in terrestrial ecosystems. In this presentation, we will review the development of hydropedology in the past 10 years and venture into its future for the next 10 years. Opportunities and challenges in advancing this new interdisciplinary science will be discussed.
