Water repellency is a relative (and a little misleading) term because no surface actually exerts a repelling force on a liquid. There is always some attraction between a liquid and any solid. The affinity (hydrophilicity) or repellency (hydrophobicity) between water and solid surfaces originates from mutual attractive forces (adhesion) and the attraction between the water molecules (cohesion). Soil water repellency is generally attributed to hydrophobic organic matter coating soil particles or accumulating in the soil environment. The definition of hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity, based on the contact angle α between water and a solid, reads: if α < 90°, the solid is wettable, if α ≥ 90°, the solid is water repellent (Adamson, 1990). Another definition of hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity, based on the surface-free energy, reads: solid surfaces with a surface-free energy σsa > 72.75 mN m-1 attract water and are therefore hydrophilic. Solid surfaces with a surface-free energy σsa < 72.75 mN m-1 are hydrophobic (Doerr et al., 2000). Soil water repellency (WR) is characterised using three parameters: severity (degree) of WR, persistence of WR, and index of WR. The most frequently used techniques for the severity and persistence of WR measurements are MED (molarity of ethanol droplet) and WDPT (water drop penetration time) test, respectively. and Vodoodpudivosť je relatívny (a trochu zavádzajúci) pojem, pretože žiadny povrch tuhej látky nepôsobí na kvapalinu odpudivou, ale vždy príťažlivou silou. Afinita (hydrofilnosť) alebo odpudivosť (hydrofóbnosť) medzi vodou a povrchom tuhej látky vzniká zo vzájomných príťažlivých síl (adhézia) a príťažlivých síl medzi molekulami vody (kohézia). Vodoodpudivosť pôdy sa všeobecne pripisuje hydrofóbnej organickej hmote, ktorá buď pokrýva pôdne častice alebo je akumulovaná v pôdnom prostredí. Definícia hydrofóbnosti a hydrofilnosti, založená na veľkosti uhla omáčania, znie: ak je uhol omáčania α menší ako 90°, tuhá látka je zmáčavá, ak je väčší alebo sa rovná 90°, tuhá látka je vodoodpudivá (Adamson, 1990). Iná definícia hydrofóbnosti a hydrofilnosti, založená na povrchovej voľnej energii, znie: povrch tuhej látky s povrchovou voľnou energiou σsa > 72,75 mN m-1 je hydrofilný a povrch tuhej látky s povrchovou voľnou energiou σsa < 72,75 mN m-1 je hydrofóbny (Doerr et al., 2000). Vodoodpudivosť je charakterizovaná tromi parametrami: veľkosť, stálosť a index vodoodpudivosti. Najčastejšie používanou metódou na meranie veľkosti vodoodpudivosti pôdy je MED test, v ktorom sa povrchová voľná energia pôdy určuje z molarity kvapky etanolu, ktorá vnikne do pôdy za určitý čas. Najčastejšie používanou metódou na meranie stálosti vodoodpudivosti pôdy je WDPT test, pri ktorom sa meria čas, potrebný na infiltráciu kvapky destilovanej vody do pôdy.
The main hydrological and geomorphological impacts of soil water repellency are: (a) reduced infiltration capacity; (b) increased overland flow; (c) spatially localised infiltration and/or percolation, often with fingered flow development; (d) effects on the three-dimensional distribution and dynamics of soil moisture, evapotranspiration, as well as plant germination and growth; (e) enhanced streamflow responses to rainstorm; (f) enhanced total streamflow; and (g) enhanced soil erosion. Surfactants (wetting agents), clay, and municipal solid waste compost were found to be successful in mitigation of the consequences of soil water repellency. and Hlavné hydrologické a geomorfologické dôsledky vodoodpudivosti sú: (a) zmenšenie rýchlosti infiltrácie vody do pôdy, (b) zväčšenie povrchového prúdenia, (c) priestorovo lokalizovaná infiltrácia a/alebo perkolácia a prúdenie prstami, (d) účinky na trojrozmerné rozdelenie a dynamiku pôdnej vlhkosti, evapotranspiráciu, ako aj klíčenie a rast rastlín, (e) zväčšenie odtoku po búrke, (f) zväčšenie celkového odtoku a (g) zväčšenie erózie pôdy. Dôsledky vodoodpudivosti pôdy možno zmierniť aplikáciou povrchovo aktívnych látok (zmáčadiel), ílu a kompostu z tuhého komunálneho odpadu.
Biocrusts are biological communities that occupy the soil surface, accumulate organic matter and mineral particles and hence strongly affect the properties of the soils they cover. Moreover, by affecting water repellency, biocrusts may cause a preferential infiltration of rainwater, with a high impact on the formation of local water pathways, especially for sand dunes. The aim of this study is to shed light on the connections between water repellency and pH, carbonate and organic matter content in two dune ecosystems with different biocrust types. For this, we used contact angle measurements, gas volumetric carbonate determination and organic matter characterization via FT-IR and TOFSIMS. In both ecosystems, moss-dominated biocrusts showed higher water repellency and higher amounts of organic matter compared to algal or cyanobacterial biocrusts. Surprisingly, the biocrusts of the two dune systems did not show differences in organic matter composition or organic coatings of the mineral grains. Biocrusts on the more acidic dunes showed a significantly higher level of water repellency as compared to higher carbonate containing dunes. We conclude that the driving factor for the increase in water repellency between cyanobacterial and moss-dominated biocrusts within one study site is the content of organic matter. However, when comparing the different study sites, we found that higher amounts of carbonate reduced biocrust water repellency.