Human society has entered into the so-called ‘‘anthropogenic
era’’, which means that the natural ecosystem is
confronted with a severe challenge from human activity.
Currently, as two key environmental factors, hydrology
and ecology are separated from each other in scientific
study; at the same time, the management of water
resources and the ecology protection are assigned to
different industries in terms of resource management in
most countries. The appearance of ecohydrology as a
distinct field is consistent with the trend toward increasing
interdisciplinary research. However, there are still many
practical difficulties in undertaking interdisciplinary research,
especially in linking fundamental disciplines such
as ecology and hydrology due to the existence of the large
gap between their different scientific foundations. Thus,
we are unable to find an effective, integrated and
comprehensive strategy to solve these issues while
ecological and hydrological problems are arising frequently.