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Scientia Silvae Sinicae ›› 2025, Vol. 61 ›› Issue (7): 129-139.doi: 10.11707/j.1001-7488.LYKX20240236

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Research Progress of the Hydrological Effects of Eucalyptus Plantations in China

Zijie Cui1,Ge Sun2,Yaoqi Zhang3,Apeng Du4,Xiaodong Liu1,*()   

  1. 1. College of Forestry and Landscape Architecture, South China Agricultural University Guangzhou 510642
    2. Southern Research Station, United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service North Carolina 27709
    3. School of Ecology and Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology Nanjing 210044
    4. Research Institute of Fast-Growing Trees, Chinese Academy of Forestry Zhanjiang 524022
  • Received:2024-04-28 Online:2025-07-20 Published:2025-08-19
  • Contact: Xiaodong Liu E-mail:liuxd@scau.edu.cn

Abstract:

As an important exotic fast-growing timber species in southern China, eucalyptus plays an important role in alleviating the conflicts between supply and demand of wood, ensuring national wood supply safety and coping with climate change. However, the ecological impacts of large-scale expansion of eucalyptus plantation, especially the eco-hydrological effects, has received extensive attention. Whether eucalyptus plantations increase water consumption so called a large ‘water pump’ that affects regional water resources is still in controversy. This study reviews the current development of eucalyptus plantations and the hydrological effects of eucalyptus plantations by integrating the hydrological literature including rainfall interception and redistribution, tree transpiration, soil evaporation, forest litter and soil moisture, runoff yield and groundwater. The study found that the planting area of eucalyptus plantations in China has increased exponentially from 1960 to 2021. At the annual scale, the rates of canopy interception, throughfall, stemflow, surface runoff and total runoff of eucalyptus plantations in China are 19.9%±6.0%, 74.3%±5.9%, 1.9%±2.1%, 15.0%±13.6% and 18.7%±16.9%, respectively. Individual comparative studies show that the deep soil water content and groundwater level of eucalyptus plantations are much lower than those of bare land and local mixed forests. However, due to the differences in climate, topography, stand characteristics, and management measures in different observation areas, the hydrological effects of eucalyptus plantations show great variability. Current evidence remains insufficient to reach conclusive findings regarding the hydrological impacts of eucalyptus plantations at watershed scales. Judging from the specific indicators such as the number of stations, forest age stages, and length of observations, related research in this field is still seriously structures and management measures in eucalyptus plantations, as well as with other plantations or natural forests in the same region, while paying attention to the integrated research on eco-hydrological effects of eucalyptus plantations at different temporal and spatial scales.

Key words: eucalyptus, plantation, water resources, water consumption, water conservation

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