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[1] The partitioning of rainfall into evapotranspiration, runoff, and deep infiltration in seasonally dry climates is influenced by strong temporal variability in rainfall and potential evapotranspiration at the intra-annual scale, which cannot be captured by conventional steady state water balance models. Guided by dimensional analysis and using simplified stochastic soil moisture models, we develop analytical expressions describing the annual partitioning of rainfall into evapotranspiration and deep percolation/runoff in seasonally dry, surface water dependent landscapes. We discuss the related changes to Budyko's curve under different seasonality scenarios, showing that an increase in seasonal rainfall and potential evapotranspiration variability as well as dry season length can lead to a decrease in the annual evapotranspiration ratio. In addition, our model shows that although increased soil water storage can compensate for the decrease in evapotranspiration due to climate seasonality, this effect is more marked in drier climates (higher annual dryness index) compared to wetter climates. Finally, the coupling of the soil moisture model to a minimalist plant growth model shows that in seasonally dry climates, a maximum in biomass is to be expected for a wet season of optimal length, for which the limitations imposed by both water availability and growth duration are at a minimum.Citation: Feng, X., G. Vico, and A. Porporato (2012), On the effects of seasonality on soil water balance and plant growth, Water Resour. Res., 48, W05543,

Large areas in the tropics and at mid‐latitudes experience pronounced seasonality and inter‐annual variability in rainfall and hence water availability. Despite the importance of these seasonally dry ecosystems (SDEs) for the global carbon cycling and in providing ecosystem services, a unifying ecohydrological framework to interpret the effects of climatic variability on SDEs is still lacking. A synthesis of existing data about plant functional adaptations in SDEs, covering some 400 species, shows that leaf phenological variations, rather than physiological traits, provide the dominant control on plant‐water‐carbon interactions. Motivated by this result, the combined implications of leaf phenology and climatic variability on plant water use strategies are here explored with a minimalist model of the coupled soil water and plant carbon balances. The analyses are extended to five locations with different hydroclimatic forcing, spanning seasonally dry tropical climates (without temperature seasonality) and Mediterranean climates (exhibiting out of phase seasonal patterns of rainfall and temperature). The most beneficial leaf phenology in terms of carbon uptake depends on the climatic regime: evergreen species are favoured by short dry seasons or access to persistent water stores, whereas high inter‐annual variability of rainy season duration favours the coexistence of multiple drought‐deciduous phenological strategies. We conclude that drought‐deciduousness may provide a competitive advantage in face of predicted declines in rainfall totals, while reduced seasonality and access to deep water stores may favour evergreen species. This article has been contributed to by US Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.