Throughfall (TF) is a critical component of the hydrological and biogeochemical cycles and is greatly influenced by stand structures in forested watersheds. Previous studies have examined the relationships between TF and stand structures for different species and regions. However, there remains acknowledged difficulty in estimation of TF with changing stand structures due to forest management (e.g., thinning) for specific species and regions.
Here, Associate Professor Xinchao Sun, cooperating with Professor Yuichi Onda from University of Tsukuba, Japan, conducted intensive thinning with 43–50% stem removal at seven experimental plots with various structures (e.g., stand density, canopy cover and basal area) across Japan that were covered by Japanese cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa Endl.) and cedar (Cryptomeria japonica D. Don) plantations. The multiple regression models related to stand-structure variables have been developed to estimate TF at event based and stand scales. The models are validated using the dataset of this study and earlier publications for Japanese cedar and cypress plantations, and show good fit and accuracy between the estimated and measured TF at both scales. The models are practical tools with input of commonly forest inventories that can be readily used to decision-makers for optimizing forest and water managements, and have potential uses in the evaluation of the spatial TF patterns over large plantation areas with minimal effort at catchment scale.
Comparison between estimated and observed throughfall (TF) rate
This study entitled ‘Estimation of throughfall with changing stand structures for Japanese cypress and cedar plantations’ was published in < Forest Ecology and Management > . This study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFA0600802), and by Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST) of the Japan Science and Technology (JST).
Paper details: Xinchao Sun*, Yuichi Onda, Hiroaki Kato, Takashi Gomi, Xueyan Liu*, 2017，Estimation of throughfall with changing stand structures for Japanese cypress and cedar plantations, Forest Ecology and Management, 402: 145-156.
Link: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112717310113
