Comment on “Are soils overrated in hydrology?” by Gao et al. (2023)

This comment challenges the perspective of Gao et al. (2023) that is rejecting the role of soil processes in hydrology. We argue that the authors present a false dichotomy between soil-centric and ecosystem-centric views. These two views of hydrology are complementary and reflect on the inherent mul...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Hydrology and earth system sciences 2024-09, Vol.28 (17), p.4059-4063
Main Authors: Zhao, Ying, Rahmati, Mehdi, Vereecken, Harry, Or, Dani
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Catchment area
Catchment scale
Climate and vegetation
Determinism
Hydrologic cycle
Hydrology
River networks
Soil
Soils
Topography
Water
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Summary:This comment challenges the perspective of Gao et al. (2023) that is rejecting the role of soil processes in hydrology. We argue that the authors present a false dichotomy between soil-centric and ecosystem-centric views. These two views of hydrology are complementary and reflect on the inherent multiscale complexity of hydrology where soil processes dominate at certain scales but other processes may become important at the catchment scale. We recognize the need for a new scale-aware framework that reconciles the interplay between soil processes at small scales with emergent behaviors driven by vegetation, topography, and climate at large scales.
ISSN:1607-7938
1027-5606
1607-7938
DOI:10.5194/hess-28-4059-2024