Interception,drop size distributions and rainfall kinetic energy in four colombian forest ecosystems

Interception losses, rain and throughfall drop size spectra and kinetic energy were studied in four relatively undisturbed tropical forest ecosystems along a transect across the Central Andean Cordillera of Colombia at altitudes between 3000 and 1000 m above sea level. Interception amounts ranged from 11 to more than 20 per cent of the total rainfall and fell within the normal range of interception figures observed in natural tropical forests. Drop size spectra were established using the filter paper method; the drop size distributions of the open field rainfall were unimodal while the throughfall had bimodal distributions, with a higher percentage of the volume of rain falling as large drops. Disturbance of the natural forests, for example by logging activities or cattle grazing, will further increase the throughfall kinetic energy and may lead to higher splash erosion rates inside the forests than in the open field. The kinetic energy of the throughfall was higher than that of the open field rainfall (20-70 per cent), even after correcting for interception losses (4-30 per cent). Splash-cup experiments, conducted both in the field and in the laboratory, indicated that the kinetic energy is a good index of rainfall erosivity. Inside the forests the amounts of sand splashed from the splash-cups was, after correction for interception losses, 2-16 per cent higher than outside the forests.