Foreword Gabriel Katul; Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Stochastic soil moisture dynamics and water balance; 3. Crossing properties of soil moisture dynamics; 4. Plant water stress; 5. Applications to natural ecosystems; 6. Coupled dynamics of photosynthesis, transpiration and soil water balance: from hourly to growing-season time scale; 7. Plant strategies and water use; 8. Seasonal and interannual fluctuations in soil moisture dynamics; 9. Spatial scale issues in soil moisture dynamics; 10. Hydrologic controls on nutrient cycles; 11. Hydrologic variability and ecosystem structure; References; Species index; Subject index.