Soil water retaining capacity and infiltration property of typical forests in the Jinyun Mountain

In order to evaluate hydrological functions of different vegetation communities in the Three Gorges Region,the results of a study in August 2004 on the water retaining capacity and infiltration property of soil of four typical forest stands(mixed Pinus massoniana-deciduous forests,evergreen broadleaved forests,Phyllostachys pubescens forests and evergreen broadleaved shrub forests) in the Jinyun Mountain of the Three Gorges Region,Chongqing were presented.Study showed that the non-capillary water retaining capacity was 1.5-2 times as high as that of arable farmland soil and the effective water storage of the soil was 1.1-1.9 times as high,the exception was the soil of P. pubescens forests.For the four forest stands, the water retaining capacities of the soil were ranked as follows:evergreen broadleaf shrub forests(454.1 mm) > mixed P.massoniana-deciduous forests(327.6 mm) > evergreen broadleaf forests(292.5 mm) >P.pubescens forests(218.9 mm).The stable infiltration rates of the soil of four typical forest stands were ranked in the following order:evergreen broadleaf forests(10.169 mm/min) > P.pubescens forests(0.927 mm/min) > mixed P.massoniana-deciduous forests(0.743 mm/min) > evergreen broadleaved forests(0.551 mm/min) > arable farmland(0.253 mm/min).In general,the soil of the evergreen broadleaved shrub forests has the best hydrological function in soil water retention capacity and infiltration property.These characteristics are better in the mixed P.massoniana-deciduous forests than in the evergreen broadleaf forests,while the performance of the P.pubescens forests is worse in both capacities.