Author:
Bulcock H. H.,Jewitt G. P. W.
Abstract
Abstract. It is well accepted that the total evaporation in forested areas is greater than in grasslands, largely due to the differences in the amount of rainfall that is intercepted by the forest canopy and litter and due to higher transpiration rates. However, interception is the least studied of these components of the hydrological cycle. The study aims to measure and quantify the canopy and litter interception by Eucalyptus grandis, Pinus patula and Acacia mearnsii, at the Two Streams research catchment in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands of South Africa for the three-year period April 2008 to March 2011. The results from this study showed that canopy and litter interception contributed a significant amount of the water evaporated in a forest water balance. The canopy interception by E. grandis, A. mearnsii and P. patula was 14.9%, 27.7% and 21.4% of gross precipitation, respectively, while litter interception was 8.5%, 6.6% and 12.1% of gross precipitation, respectively.
Subject
General Earth and Planetary Sciences,General Engineering,General Environmental Science
Reference34 articles.
1. Bosch, J. M. and Hewlett, J. D.: A review of catchment experiments to determine the effects of vegetationchanges on water yield and evapotranspiration, J. Hydrol., 55, 3–23, 1982.
2. Calder, I. T.: A stochastic model of rainfall interception, J. Hydrol., 89, 65–71, 1986.
3. Camp, K. G. T.: The bioresources groups of KwaZulu-Natal. Cedara Report N/A/97/6, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, 1997.
4. Clulow, A. D.: The long-term measurement of total evaporation over Acacia mearnsii using large aperture scintillometry, Unpublished MSc dissertation, School of Environmental Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, RSA, 2007.
5. Crockford, R. H. and Richardson, D. P.: Partitioning of rainfall in a eucalyptus forest and pine plantation in southeastern Australia: II. Stemflow and factors affecting stemflow in a dry sclerophylleucalypt forest and a Pinus radiata plantation, Hydrol. Process., 4, 145–155, 1990.
Cited by
56 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献，注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献，订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献