RAINFALL PARTITIONING IN FRAGMENTS OF CERRADO VEGETATION AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF CONDUCTION OF NATURAL REGENERATION

• Main Authors: Débora Bessi, Herly Carlos Teixeira Dias, Kelly Cristina Tonello
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade de Investigações Florestais 2018-10-01
• Series: Revista Árvore
• Subjects: Throughfall; Stemflow; Rainfall interception
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-67622018000200214&lng=en&tlng=en

ABSTRACT In order to contribute to the discussion on how forest development interacts with hydrological processes related to rainfall partitioning, we aimed to characterize the rainfall interception (RI), throughfall (Tf), stemflow (Sf), and net precipitation (NP) in three Cerrado areas at different stages of natural regeneration conduction: treatment 1 = area with 4 years without human intervention; treatment 2 = 10 years; and treatment 3 = 43 years. In all areas, three 400-m2 plots were established, in each of which 12 rain gauges and stemflow collectors were installed on all trees having Diameter at Breast High (DBH) > 5 cm. Data was recorded from December 2015 through November 2016. At treatment 1, Tf corresponded to 100% of gross precipitation (GP) in the micro-basin, while Sf corresponded to 0.01%, RI to 0%, and NP to 100% of GP. At treatment 2, Tf corresponded to 96% of GP, whereas Sf corresponded to 0.19%, RI to 4%, and NP to 96% of GP. At treatment 3, Tf corresponded to 87% of GP, while Sf corresponded to 1.15%, RI to 12%, and NP to 88%. The results revealed significant differences among the study areas. Both RI and Sf increased with advancing natural regeneration, while Tf and NP decreased. Data varied according to vegetation features, like the number and density of individuals and species in each plot, and according to characteristics related to weather and precipitation in the area.