Throughfall and stemflow in a primary spruce forest in the subalpine of western sichuan

The characteristics of throughfall and stemflow over one growing season were studied in a dark coniferous forest in the subalpine of the Western Sichuan. The results indicated that: 1) The distribution of precipitation by canopy was more relative to the rainfall, the higher the rainfall was, the more the throughfall and stemflow were, and the less the interception was; 2) The relationships between throughfall (T) and total rainfall (P) could be described significantly by a linear function (T = 0.744 P - 0.937, R super(2) = 0.954, p < 0.001), while the reationship between crown interception (I) and total rainfall by a power function (I = 0.759 P super(0.666), R super(2) = 0.763, p < 0.001); 3) The average canopy interception accounted for 35.8% of total rainfall and the average throughfall for 64.2%, and the average stemflow for 0.01%; 4) High water-hold capacity of moss on the surface of free trunk and low rainfall intensity were the main reasons that the stemflow of the coniferous forest in the subalpine of