Toward a Better Integration of Ecological Principles into Ecogeoscience Research

Interdisciplinary research in the fields of ecohydrology and ecogeomorphology is becoming increasingly important as a way to understand how biological and physical processes interact to affect some of the world's most pressing environmental problems; however, much of this research is based on overly simplistic assumptions about ecological systems. Here, we provide a road map for the integration of some ecological principles into these budding fields of research that warrant future study. We focus on three basic principles of ecology that should have important implications for ecohydrology and ecogeomorphology: Biological traits exist in a distribution due to species diversity, biological traits are adaptable and dynamic through time, and dynamically coupled relationships between species and their environments create biotic-abiotic feedback cycles. We develop several general hypotheses that incorporate these principles and can help guide future ecohydrology and ecogeomorphology studies.