Water balances inEucalyptus regnans, E. obliqua,andPinus radiataforests in Victoria

Abstract

Summary The movement of precipitation in a forest, as throughfall, stemflow, canopy interception, forest floor interception, and forest floor leachate was estimated from measurements made in two eucalypt forest types (Eucalyptus regnans and E. obliqua) and a Pinus radiata plantation in the Maroondah catchment, which lies on the southerly slopes of the Great Dividing Range approximately 60 km northeast of Melbourne. The amount of water immobilized by the growing trees in all three forests and that transpired by the trees in the two eucalypt forests were estimated from available data. The greater stream flow from the E. regnans forests, compared to the E. obliqua forests is due partly to the greater precipitation falling on the E. regnans forests and may also be partly due to their small transpiration losses. Less water reached the mineral soil beneath the P. radiata plantation than beneath the adjacent E. obliqua forest. This together with other studies suggest that replacement of dry sclerophyll eucalypt ...