“Ecohydrology” was first used professionally by Ingram (
1987), and widely used in ecological and hydrological process studies of wetland in the 1990s (Pedroli
et al.,
1990; Bragg
et al.,
1991; Hensel
et al.,
1991). The ecohydrology discipline was formally established at the United Nations Conference on Water and Environment in 1992. The first monograph regarding ecohydrology,
Mires:
Process,
Exploitation and Conservation, was published in 1993 (Heathwaite and Göttlich,
1993). Since then, the ecohydrology discipline has continuously improved, but mainly focused on wetland ecosystems in transitional zones. For example, Gieske
et al. (
1995) investigated the interaction between vegetation patterns, wetland ecosystems, and hydrological processes. Wassen
et al. (
1996) provided a relatively complete definition of ecohydrology, focusing on the functional value of hydrological factors for river protection and restoration. In the same year, the fifth stage of UNESCO/IHP (1996-2001) was launched, and ecohydrology became one of its research topics, causing ecohydrology to rapidly develop. Zalewski (
1997) published the monograph
Ecohydrology, which stated that ecohydrology is a spatiotemporal comprehensive science concerning hydrological processes and biological dynamics. Zalewski also proposed that the ecohydrological research should be further extended to regulating hydrological processes at basin scales and comprehensive investigations of long-term hydrological processes at large scales. Poff
et al. (
1997) proposed the theory of the natural flow paradigm, which comprehensively described the natural runoff hydrograph using flow regime metrics related to river ecology (such as flow magnitude, amplitude, frequency, duration, time, and rate of change), thereby promoting the development of river ecohydrology. Baird
et al. (
1999) used plants and water as research objects, summarized the research development of vegetation ecohydrology, and clarified the response relationship between plants and water under different conditions, such as dry lands, wetlands, temperate zones, tropics, rivers, and lakes, promoting the comprehensive development of vegetation ecohydrology. Ecohydrological studies have gradually extended from wetland ecosystem studies in the transitional zone to comprehensive studies of multiple systems and freshwater resources, including vegetations, rivers, lakes, and forests (Acreman,
2001; Eagleson,
2002). Since 2008, two consecutive five-year programs of UNESCO/IHP have used ecohydrology as a specific theme. Wood
et al. (
2008) compiled the monography
Hydroecology and Ecohydrology:
Past,
Present and Future, which comprehensively summarized the research progress and methods in the fields of ecology and hydrology. Goldsmith (
2013) investigated ecohydrological processes and their effects on the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum (SPAC) of different ecosystems. Simultaneously, because of the strong impacts of rapid economic and social development, watershed ecohydrology (Poff and Zimmerman,
2010) and urban ecohydrology (Pataki
et al.,
2011) were developed with the consideration of human activities. In addition, several academic journals have been launched, including
Ecohydrology, and
Ecohydrology &
Hydrobiology. To date, the framework of integrated terrestrial and aquatic ecohydrology has been established, which covers a variety of ecosystems, including forests, grasslands, wetlands, agriculture, rivers, lakes, and cities. Thus, ecohydrological research has gradually shifted from small-scale experimental observations and analyses to multi-scale comprehensive model explorations (van der Tol
et al., 2008), and the discipline theory and methods have experienced significant progress.