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Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2012, Vol. 23 ›› Issue (09): 2383-2389.

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Characteristics of rainfall interception by Caragana korshinskii and Hippophae rhamnoides in Loess Plateau of Northwest China.

JIAN Sheng-qi, ZHAO Chuan-yan, FANG Shu-min, YU Kai, WANG Yang, LIU Yi-yue, ZHENG Xiang-lin, PENG Shou-zhang   

  1. (State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agroecosystems, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China)
  • Online:2012-09-18 Published:2012-09-18

Abstract: From May to October 2011, an investigation was conducted on the effects of rainfall and its intensity on the canopy interception, throughfall, and stemflow of Caragana korshinskii and Hippophae rhamnoides, the main shrub species commonly planted to stabilize soil and water in the Anjiagou catchment of Loess Plateau. A total of 47 rainfall events were observed, most of which were featured with low intensity, and the total amount and average intensity of the rainfalls were 208.9 mm and 2.82 mm·h-1, respectively. As a whole, the rainfall events of 2-10 mm and 0.1-2 mm·h-1 had the highest frequency. The canopy interception, throughfall, and stemflow of C. korshinski were 58.5 mm (28%), 124.7 mm (59.7%), and 25.7 mm (12.3%), while those of H. rhamnoides were 17.6 mm (8.4%), 153.1 mm (73.3%), and 38.2 mm (18.3%), respectively. Regression analysis showed that the canopy interception, throughfall, and stemflow of the two shrub species all had significant positive correlations with the rainfall amount, and had exponent or power correlations with the rainfall amount and the maximum rainfall intensity in 10 minutes.