Special issue on the impact of biological factors on hydrological processes, edited by the authors of this Foreword, brings together 11 full-text papers on these complex interactions, ranging in scale from storing the water by lichen species to competing the nations for increasingly scarce water resources in securitized transboundary watersheds. In addition to these “boundary-scale” biohydrology papers, 4 papers assess the impact of land use on soil properties, 3 papers estimate the effect of biological factors on the downward and upward movements of water in the vadose zone of soil, and 2 papers evaluated the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculturally utilized soil and forest fires. We would like to conclude by expressing our hope that the papers published in the present special issue will act as a stimulus for initiating new research projects and contribute to finding solutions to the global threats of water scarcity and soil degradation. It is absolutely crucial to increase our chances of surviving the current climate change and to reach a more sustainable society in the future.

由前言的作者编辑的关于生物因素对水文过程影响的特刊汇集了11篇有关这些复杂相互作用的全文论文，涉及范围从地衣物种的蓄水到各国争夺日益稀缺的水证券化跨界流域的资源。除了这些“边界尺度”生物水文论文外，还有4篇论文评估了土地利用对土壤特性的影响，还有3篇论文估计了生物因素对土壤渗流带中水向下和向上运动的影响，还有2篇论文评估了农业利用的土壤和森林火灾造成的温室气体排放量。最后，我们谨表示希望，本期特刊上发表的论文将成为启动新研究项目的刺激，并有助于找到解决全球水资源短缺和土壤退化威胁的解决方案。至关重要的是，增加我们应对当前气候变化的机会，并在未来建立一个更具可持续性的社会。