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AbstractIn recent years, moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) forest areas in Japan have rapidly expanded, and bamboo is now invading nearby natural or plantation forests. To date, only one study has examined the rainfall interception of a moso bamboo forest. In that study, it was reported that the interception ratio (interception/rainfall) of the bamboo forest did not exceed the interception ratios of other natural and plantation forests (n = 4) in Japan. To expand the current state of knowledge about rainfall interception of bamboo forests, we measured throughfall and stemflow at another bamboo forest site. Annual rainfall (Rf), throughfall (Tf), and stemflow (Sf) during the measurement period were 2,105, 1,556, and 322 mm, respectively. Annual rainfall interception at the plot (I) was 228 mm. Tf/Rf, Sf/Rf, and I/Rf were 73.9, 15.3, 10.8%, respectively. I/Rf was less than 20% throughout the year except in October, the month with lowest rainfall. We also summarized rainfall interception data from 19 other natural and plantation forests. The I/Rf value of our site did not exceed the I/Rf values of these natural and plantation forests (n = 19). Our data will be useful for assessing changes in water resources that result from replacement of natural or plantation forests by bamboo forests.Keywords: BambooEvapotranspirationRainfall interceptionWater balance AcknowledgmentsThis research was partly supported by a research grant from Munakata City and a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (#17380096 and #20780119) from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. We thank Yoshinori Shinohara, Shoko Ikezaki, Jun'ichro Ide, Ryoko Maruno, and the Ecohydrology Laboratory at Kyusyu University Forest for their support and their help with our research. Thanks are also due to two anonymous reviewers, whose comments greatly improved this manuscript.
Onozawa et al. (Fri,) studied this question.