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Hydrology

The diversified economics of soil water

Nature volume 525, pages 43–44 (2015)Cite this article

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Soil water that evaporates or is tapped by plants is largely separate from that which runs into streams and recharges groundwater. This finding has big implications for our understanding of water cycling. See Letter p.91

Soils can be viewed as the investment managers of the terrestrial water cycle: they accept precipitation capital from the atmosphere and allocate it to sustain and grow various biological and hydrological stocks. These water investments influence plant productivity, run-off to streams and groundwater, and atmospheric humidity, so deciphering how soils partition water is vital if we are to understand and predict the function of these systems. On page 91 of this issue, Evaristo et al.1 suggest that the allocation of water in most soils worldwide follows a conservative, diversified 'strategy', in which new resources are invested as they are obtained, and transfer of capital between accounts is limited.

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Figure 1: Evaporation shifts in two models of soil-water allocation.

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References

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  1. Gabriel Bowen is in the Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, USA.,

    Gabriel Bowen

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  1. Gabriel Bowen
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Correspondence to Gabriel Bowen.

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Bowen, G. The diversified economics of soil water. Nature 525, 43–44 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/525043a

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