Throughfall enrichment and stream nutrient chemistry in small headwater catchments with different land cover in southern Chile

Land cover changes have a great impact on nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) fluxes catchments. In this study, we wanted to compare different land covers: deciduous (D), evergreen (E) (both native forests), and exotic Eucalyptus globulus plantation (EP), affected precipitation, and stream discharge on N and P species concentrations and fluxes, under a low deposition climate in south‐central Chile. For this, we collected bulk precipitation, throughfall, and stream water samples after 41 rainfall events in E and EP, during the period June 2009–March 2011, and 31 rainfall events in D, during the period October 2009–March 2011. The highest canopy enrichment of N and P species for throughfall was observed in deciduous forest, while E. globulus showed the minimum enrichment. Total nitrogen (total‐N) discharge in EP was about 8.6 times higher than that of E and D catchments. Total‐N annual retention was positive only in E and D catchments. However, EP catchment showed a net loss (−4.79 kg N ha/year). The biggest difference was observed in nitrate stream concentrations, which showed low values for E (3.4 ± 1.3 μg/L), while EP and D showed higher nitrate concentrations (84.9 ± 16.7 and 134.7 ± 36.7 μg/L, for EP and D, respectively). Total phosphorous (total‐P) discharge flux was low in EP (0.4 kg P ha/year), and negligible in E and D forests (