A forest-structure-based analysis of rain flow into soil in a dense deciduous Betula ermanii forest with understory dwarf bamboo

Abstract

The relationship between rain flow into the soil and forest structure was investigated in a dense deciduous Betula ermanii forest in northern Japan. The forest floor was covered with dwarf bamboo Sasa kurilensis. Observation was conducted from mid-July to late October in 1998. Leaf fall of Betula started in early September and ended in late October. Stemflow was proportional to rainfall and tree size [diameter at breast height (DBH)], and for the same rainfall, stemflow increased with leaf fall. On the contrary, throughfall decreased with leaf fall. Throughfall was intercepted also by Sasa in proportion to its leaf area. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that stemflow and throughfall of Betula and Sasa were predictable as functions of rainfall and forest structural characteristics, such as DBH, tree density, and stand leaf mass. The rain interception by plants tended to decrease from summer to autumn, but the difference in the interception was about 2% between July (fully expanded leaves) and late October (lack of leaves). About 96 and 87% of rainfall reached the above-and below-Sasa layers, respectively. Thus, this study showed that understory Sasa is a major component of rain interception within the stand and that rain flow into the soil can be estimated by using rainfall and the forest structural parameters, such as DBH, tree density and stand leaf mass.

A review of stemflow generation dynamics and stemflow‐environment interactions in forests and shrublands

“…In a birch forest of northern Japan, K . Takahashi et al . [2011] found that stand level stemflow increased with tree diameter but decreased with stand leaf mass.…”

Neighbourhood and stand structure affect stemflow generation in a heterogeneous deciduous temperate forest

“…Some studies have included canopy position, (Reynolds and Henderson, 1967;Aboal et al, 1999;Terra et al, 2018) or neighbouring tree proximity (McKee and Carlyle-Moses, 2017) in tree stemflow models, whereas Krämer and Hölscher (2009) tested species composition effects on area average stemflow. Other studies have discussed a shading effect in the lower canopy (André et al, 2008;Takahashi et al, 2011) as a possible explanation for their stemflow results. However, a systematic study explicitly focusing on neighbourhood effects on stemflow in a quantitative approach is currently missing.…”

“…tree-to-tree) variability, and thus inherently implied temporally stabile drivers. Most prominently, tree diameter (or circumference, basal area, crown projection area) has been identified as a factor shaping tree-specific stemflow within an event (Reynolds and Henderson, 1967;Aboal et al, 1999;André et al, 2008;Krämer and Hölscher, 2009;Takahashi et al, 2011). However, stemflow yield still shows a great deal of between-tree variation after accounting for tree size (Reynolds and Henderson, 1967;Takahashi et al, 2011;McKee and Carlyle-Moses, 2017), as trees' traits related to morphology and crown architecture additionally affect individual tree stemflow.…”

“…Most prominently, tree diameter (or circumference, basal area, crown projection area) has been identified as a factor shaping tree-specific stemflow within an event (Reynolds and Henderson, 1967;Aboal et al, 1999;André et al, 2008;Krämer and Hölscher, 2009;Takahashi et al, 2011). However, stemflow yield still shows a great deal of between-tree variation after accounting for tree size (Reynolds and Henderson, 1967;Takahashi et al, 2011;McKee and Carlyle-Moses, 2017), as trees' traits related to morphology and crown architecture additionally affect individual tree stemflow. For example, factors such as many and steeply inclined branches (Herwitz, 1987;Návar, 1993;Iida et al, 2005;Levia et al, 2015;Martinez-Meza and Whitford, 1996), smoother bark (Aboal et al, 1999;Iida et al, 2005;van Stan and Levia, 2010;van Stan et al, 2016), leaf hydrophobicity (Iida et al, 2005), low LAI/few leaves (Takahashi et al, 2011;Molina and del Campo, 2012;Levia et al, 2015) and more woody surface (Levia and Germer, 2015;Levia et al, 2015) have been found to enhance stemflow production.…”

Hybridisation, Introgression and Phylogeography of Icelandic Birch

“…2, research on Betula during the past 5-6 years has mostly been in the area of ecology and silviculture (261/339 publications or 77%). Examples of ecological papers include birch community and ecosystem analysis (Kleczewski et al 2010;Deslippe et al 2011;Takahashi et al 2011), regeneration, vegetation succession and human influence (Shrestha et al 2007;Erlendsson & Edwards 2009;Schofield & Edwards 2011), impact of climate change on plant performance and productivity (Levanic & Eggertsson 2008;Pudas et al 2008;Sano et al 2010), modelling of plant structure, growth and phenology (Linkosalo et al 2010;Caffarra et al 2011;Lintunen et al 2011), environmental pollution and chemical ecology (Kontunen-Soppela et al 2010;Franiel & Babczynska 2011;Morales et al 2011). Although the category ecology-physiology appears to be the most published subject, a good proportion of the studies have direct application in silviculture and forestry.…”