Characteristics of stemflow for tall stewartia ( Stewartia monadelpha) growing on a hillslope

The characteristics of stemflow were observed in a tall stewartia ( Stewartia monadelpha) deciduous forest on a hillslope in central Japan, revealing new findings for a previously unreported type of deciduous forest. Using 2-year observations of 250 rainfall events, we analyzed seasonal and spatial...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of hydrology (Amsterdam) 2009-11, Vol.378 (1), p.168-178
Main Authors: Liang, Wei-Li, Kosugi, Ken’ichirou, Mizuyama, Takahisa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Deciduous broad-leaved tree
deciduous forests
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
forest hydrology
Forested hillslope hydrology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
habitats
hills
Hydrology
Hydrology. Hydrogeology
Rainfall partitioning
seasonal variation
spatial variation
Spatiotemporal variations
stemflow
Stewartia
Stewartia monadelpha
Synecology
Terrestrial ecosystems
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Summary:The characteristics of stemflow were observed in a tall stewartia ( Stewartia monadelpha) deciduous forest on a hillslope in central Japan, revealing new findings for a previously unreported type of deciduous forest. Using 2-year observations of 250 rainfall events, we analyzed seasonal and spatial variations in stemflow for several trees, and applied additional data sets of throughfall and plant area index (PAI) to produce a rough estimate of seasonal variations in rainfall redistribution processes and canopy architecture for a single tree. Compared to previous findings for other deciduous tree species, the ratios of throughfall, stemflow, and interception to open-area rainfall obviously varied with PAI changes for tall stewartia. Meteorological conditions of rainfall amount, rainfall intensity, wind speed, and wind direction had little effect on stemflow generation, which was mainly affected by variation in canopy architecture. Three novel characteristics of stemflow were identified for several tall stewartia trees. First, the yearly stemflow ratio at the forest-stand level for tall stewartia (12%) was high compared to previous findings on beech and oak stands, indicating tall stewartia has considerably high potential to generate a great amount of stemflow. Second, stemflow tended to be 1.3–2.0 times greater in the leafed period than in the leafless period. Third, the amount of stemflow was 12–132 times greater on the downslope side of the stem than on the upslope side. It likely caused by the uneven area between the upslope and downslope sides of the canopy and by asymmetrical stemflow pathways between the upslope and downslope sides of the trunk due to downslope tilting of the tree trunk.
ISSN:0022-1694
1879-2707
DOI:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.09.027