Abstract
Rainfall interception research in forest ecosystems usually focuses on interception by either tree crown or leaf litter, although the 2 components interact when rainfall occurs. A process-based study was conducted to jointly measure rainfall interception by crown and litter and the interaction between the 2 interception processes for 4 tree species (Platycladus orientalis and Pinus tabulaeformis represented needle-leaf species, and Quercus variabilis and Acer truncatum represented broadleaf species) at 3 simulated rainfall intensities (10, 50, and 100 mm hr−1). Results indicated that (a) crown and litter interception processes incorporated 3 phases: the dampening phase, the steady saturation phase, and the postrainfall drainage phase, but the dampening phase for litter interception usually lasted 30 min longer than for crown interception; (b) the maximum and minimum interception storage (Cmax and Cmin) for the crown were 0.63 and 0.36 mm on average, and litter Cmax and Cmin were 5.38 and 2.36 mm, respectively; (c) generally, crown and litter Cmax and Cmin increased when gross precipitation increased significantly (p <.05) from 10 to 100 mm; and (4) crown Cmax and Cmin for needle-species were 1.8 and 1.2 times larger than broadleaf species, whereas broadleaf litter showed the opposite, its Cmax and Cmin were 2.0 and 1.6 times larger than needle-leaf litter on average; however, no significant differences were observed in crown and litter Cmax and Cmin between species on per leaf area and litter thickness basis. Results were normalized by total leaf area and litter thickness to provide a way to scale up from young trees to mature forests. Overall, rainfall interception was affected by biotic and abiotic factors together and could be quantified via multiple linear regression functions.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3533-3542 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Hydrological Processes |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue number | 20 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 30 2017 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank the JiuFeng National Forest Park Administration and postgraduates Jun Xu and Pengwei Bao for their help and support in the experiment. We also thank the two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments, which have been very helpful for improving the manuscript. This study was supported by the Chinese Scholarship Council Fund; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (BLYJ201406); National Natural Science Fund of China (41171028); National Advanced Project of the 12th Plan of China (2011BAD38B05); and National Forestry Public Welfare Industry Research Project of China (201104005). All funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Keywords
- crown interception
- gross precipitation
- interception process
- leaf area
- litter interception
- litter thickness