Abstract:

This paper reviews research advances in any effect of Eucalyptus plantation and some factors (such as, forest ages, logging and afforestation, wildfire etc.) on the evapotranspiration, water yield, soil water and ground water, and indicates some problems and proposes expectations. Generally, the interception loss varied greatly in different Ｅucalyptus forests and the transpiration usually ranged from 0.5 mm to 6.0 mm per day. The evapotranspiration was affected by the leaf area index (LAI), forest density, content of soil water and irrigation, forest ages and conversion of Eucalyptus and other vegetations. And the water yield of catchments increases after logging such as the clearfelling, thinning or selective cutting and decrease after afforestation. The transpiration reduced and water yield of catchments increased with the increase of forest ages when Eucalyptus forests were old enough. The wildfires can increase the water yield. Eucalyptus plantations may consume the shallow ground water in the dry area, however there was no evidence that Eucalyptus plantations took the deep ground water. There are many problems that need to be resolved about the research of the effects of Eucalyptus forest on the hydrology in China, and the researches in main directions and key fields need urgently to be strengthened.

Key words: Eucalyptus, plantation, hydrology, water yield, evapotranspiration, canopy interception