Ecohydrology of deep soil in water-limited environments

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Ecohydrology of deep soil in water-limited environments******Deep soil water, at depth beyond majority of roots, is a critical link in the hydrological cycle and is important for deep rooted ecosystems to preserve their biodiversity, combat persistent droughts and maintain groundwater recharge in water-limited environments. There is poor understanding of the triggers for these ecohydrological functions of deep soil water and how these functions respond to landuse- and climate-change. As a consequence, our current hydrological models lack realistic representation of deep soil water processes, impaired our ability to predict the future changes in hydrological cycles in Canada and elsewhere.***The long term goal of my research is to develop new understanding of how deep roots and deep soils interact to affect the transpiration and hydrology of different ecosystems for improved understanding and model formulations of the hydrological processes in deep soils. The proposed work addresses the most important and fundamental impediments for moving forward in the research area to ultimately aid the development of ecohydrological models that is useful in reliably assessing, and predicting deep soil water uptake that dictates ecosystem functions, and water quality and quantity under changing environments. **