In this way, the plants are able to garner an aggre- gate volume of water (from ... Likewise, Ndvar and Bryan [1990] reported only ephemeral ponding around ...
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH, VOL. 35, NO. 5, PAGES 1581-1586, MAY 1999
Plant canopy interception of rainfall and its significance in a banded landscape, arid western New South Wales, Australia D. L. Dunkerley and T. L. Booth Departmentof Geographyand EnvironmentalScience,MonashUniversity,Clayton,Victoria, Australia
Abstract. The canopyinterceptionstoragecapacityof three plantsin an arid, banded (runoff-runon)landscapewasdeterminedin the field from weightgain under artificial rain. The plants,two shrubsand a grass,were the bladdersaltbushAtriplexvesicaria (Hewardex Benth.),the pearl bluebushMaireanasedifolia(F. Muell.) P. G. Wilson,and perennialMitchell grassAstreblalappacea(Lindl.) Domin. For saltbushand Mitchell grass, canopywater storagecapacity(1.3 mm) correlatedstronglywith projectedcanopyarea, while for the densecanopyof the bluebush(2.0 mm capacity),plantweightwasa better predictor.In view of canopycoveramountsin eachplant community,and the mean rain day rainfall of 5.7 mm, estimatedannualwater lossesamountto 32% for Mitchell grass communities,5% for saltbushcommunities,and
