Water partitioning refers to the distribution of water in different compartments or phases within a system. This can include the distribution of water between soil, plants, and the atmosphere in the context of ecosystems, or the distribution of water between different phases in a chemical or physical system. Understanding water partitioning is important for a range of fields, including ecology, hydrology, and environmental science, as it helps to explain the movement and availability of water in natural and human-impacted systems. Researchers studying water partitioning may use a variety of methods, such as field measurements, laboratory experiments, and modeling techniques, to quantify and analyze the distribution of water in different compartments.