Use of Lysimeters to Assess Water Balance Components in Grassland and Atlantic Forest in Southern Brazil

Abstract

This study aimed to quantify the water balance components at a grassland and a forest site representative of the Atlantic Forest biome in southern Brazil using drainage lysimeters. Since it was not possible to place mature trees on the forest lysimeter, it was planted with young trees and understory vegetation. Data from this lysimeter and computations with the water balance and the Penman-Monteith equation were then used to assess the values of the water balance components for the mature forest.

Total precipitation during the study period was 2308 mm. In the forest environment, 46% thereof was intercepted by the canopy from where it later evaporated. Hence, much less rain reached the ground than under grassland. Runoff from both sites was <1% of precipitation and therefore not a significant factor in the water balance. Cumulative drainage amounted to 1136 mm from grassland: from the mature forest, it was estimated to be 389 mm. There were two reasons for this low value under forest: Interception prevented a lot of water from reaching the ground, and the actual evapotranspiration from the mature forest was much higher than from grassland (1231 mm compared to 1964 mm).

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