Visualisation of Ecohydrological Processes and Relationships for Teaching Using Advanced Techniques

Ecohydrology is an emerging discipline with a rapid research growth. This calls for enhancing ecohydrology education in both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. In other hydrology disciplines, hydrological processes are commonly observed in environments (e.g. streamflow, infiltration) or easily demonstrated in labs (e.g. Darcy’s column). It is relatively difficult to demonstrate ecohydrological concepts and processes (e.g. soil-vegetation water relationship) in teaching. In this presentation, we report examples of using some advanced techniques to illustrate ecohydrological concepts, relationships, and processes, with measurements based on a native vegetation catchment in South Australia. They include LIDAR images showing the relationship between topography-control hdyroclimatic conditions and vegetation distribution, electrical resistivity tomography derived images showing stem structures, continuous stem water potential monitoring showing diurnal variations of plant water status, root zone moisture depletion during dry spells, and responses to precipitation inputs, and incorporating sapflow measurements to demonstrate environmental stress on plant stomatal behaviours.