Resumo

NAVAR CHAIDEZ, José de Jesús; MENDEZ GONZALEZ, Jorge  e  GONZALEZ RODRIGUEZ, Humberto. Rainfall Interception by Leguminous Species of Northeastern Mexico. Terra Latinoam [online]. 2008, vol.26, n.1, pp.61-68. ISSN 2395-8030.

Rainfall interception is a major component of the hydrological cycle that has not been extensively studied or modeled in plant species of semi-arid and sub-tropical environments. The objectives of this study were to derive rainfall interception parameters and to test the applicability of the Gash analytical model adjusted to four leguminous shrub species of Northeastern Mexico (Pithecellobium pallens, Pithecellobium ebano, Acacia rigidula, and Acacia berlandieri). Interception loss was estimated from measurements of incident rainfall in four rain gauges and throughfall in 64 cylindrical collectors. The results showed that interception loss was statistically different among species and the differences were associated with plant biomass components and the structure of the shrub-top. Gash's analytical model for rainfall interception adequately predicted total interception loss since maximum deviations between derived and modeled interception loss were 5%. Therefore, the model is recommended to estimate rainfall interception for the plant species studied.

Palavras-chave : pioneer subtropical shrub species; Gash analytical model; sensitivity analysis; calibration.

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