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Forest Hydrology and Biogeochemistry pp 445–454Cite as

Forest Floor Interception

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Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 216))

Abstract

Often it is assumed that throughfall, which is the rainfall that is not intercepted by a canopy, is fully available for infiltration. This is not correct. The forest floor also intercepts rainfall much in the same way as the canopy. The forest floor can temporarily store water on short vegetation, litter, or bare soil. Interception by bare soil seems to have an overlap with soil evaporation, but can be distinguished by the fact that soil evaporation refers to the water that is stored in the root zone (De Groen and Savenije 2006). Whereas interception by bare soil only involves a very thin top layer not accessed by roots, short vegetation is identified as grasses, mosses, small bushes, and creeping vegetation. The litter layer is defined by Hoover and Lunt (1952) as the L & F layers (i.e., leaves, twigs, and small branches).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands

    A. M. J. Gerrits & H. H. G. Savenije

Authors
  1. A. M. J. Gerrits
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  2. H. H. G. Savenije
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. M. J. Gerrits .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Geography, Center for Climate Research, University of Delaware, Newark, 19716-2541, Delaware, USA

    Delphis F. Levia

  2. , Department of Geography, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, V2C 5N3, British Columbia, Canada

    Darryl Carlyle-Moses

  3. , Department of International Affairs, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8577, Japan

    Tadashi Tanaka

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Gerrits, A.M.J., Savenije, H.H.G. (2011). Forest Floor Interception. In: Levia, D., Carlyle-Moses, D., Tanaka, T. (eds) Forest Hydrology and Biogeochemistry. Ecological Studies, vol 216. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1363-5_22

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