Medición y análisis de la intercepción de lluvia en un bosque encino: aplicación a la microcuenca la Barreta

The rainfall interception by the canopy of vegetation is one of the factors involved in soil moisture and runoff, largely because it returns to the atmosphere as evaporation. In Mexico there are few studies related to forest of oak and its relationship to the hydrological processes, mainly to losses by interception (I). The purpose of this study was to estimate the amount and distribution of rainwater through the process of interception by a canopy oak. The study was conducted in the basin La Barreta. The monitoring of rainfall was conducted with a rain gauge continuous flow of rain over the period 2006 and 2007. The direct precipitation (throughfall) was assessed using raingauges type bottle in an area of approximately 1 hectare in ecosystems with one (Eupatorium sp.), Two (Eupatorium sp. + Quercus sp.) and three (Eupatorium sp. + Ptelea trifoliata + Quercus sp.) layers, and soil moisture was measured with sensors humidity of the mark Water Mark and TDR. To simulate the interception (I) were applied models Gash et al. (1979, 1995) and Gash and Valente (1997). The results showed that the interception was 23.8%, 28.0% and 23.9% for ecosystems with one, two and three layers respectively, retention of moisture in the soil volume turned out to be an average of 4.61% and 7.24% for ecosystems one two layers. The models interception thrown better results in the ecosystem with a stratum.