Abstract
This study aimed to estimate the redistribution of rainfall in a Caatinga vegetation fragment of about 50 years in fallow system, in late stage of regeneration. To quantify the throughfall, rainfall collectors were installed in six individuals of the species Croton blanchetianus, Mimosa tenuiflora, Cnidoscolus quercifolius, Aspidosperma pyrifolium and Poincianella bracteosa, totaling 30 rainfall collectors. For the stemflow, collecting system set around the stems of the six subjects in each of the five selected species was used, consisting of collecting gutters in a spiral. In addition, a rain gauge was installed in an open location to quantify the open precipitation, which during the study period was equal to 1173.56 mm. The C. quercifolius species had the highest average of throughfall; probably this may be related to the peculiarities in relation to architecture and canopy shape. The stemflow has lower shares in gross precipitation in A. pyrifolium and C. quercifolius species, representing 15.25 to 12.48% of the total rainfall, respectively. The values obtained for the interception losses were greater than 60% in all species. Key words: Forestal hydrology, throughfall, stemflow.
Highlights
There was no water storage in rainfall collectors in the months of June and August/2011 and March/2012, which may be related to low rainfall that occurred in those months
The results found for C. blanchetianus indicate a greater efficiency of the stemflow production and a smaller loss of interception than the other species, which has a significant competitive advantage to face periods of water deficit, characteristic of the region
The C. quercifolius species had the highest average of throughfall compared to the others, probably this can be related to the peculiarities of the species in relation to architecture and form of canopy, despite the species presents the highest average of leaf area, the projection area of its canopy was the lowest (Table 2)
Summary
The vegetation play a key role in the Earth System as it can control the soil erosion, the runoff generation, the infiltration process, and the soil properties (Cerdà and Doerr, 2005; Keesstra et al, 2009; Keesstra, 2007; Barua and Haque, 2013; Novara et al, 2011; Cadaret et al, 2016; Archer et al, 2016).Rainfall participates in nutrient cycling, after contacting the forest canopy, as rainwater has its physical and chemical attributes modified by leaching of the metabolites of leaf tissues, stems and branches.
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