Abstract:

Based on the principle of water balance in forest ecosystem, a new method named “ water balance measurement of multiple-trees”for measuring evapotranspiration and its components was developed for the forest/vegetation in the stony mountain area of Loess Plateau. The corresponding concept, research design and measurement methods were also described in detail in the paper. The transpiration of two stands of Larix principi-rupprechtii with different density was estimated by the method. The comparison indicated that the stand transpiration in growing season of 2002 was close to the value estimated by heat pulse method. This means that the suggested method of water balance measurement of multiple-trees can be used as a practicle method. Finally, some problems related with the theory and application of this method were discussed.

Key words: Forest evapotranspiration, Soil water balance, Water balance measurement of multiple-trees