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Characteristics of throughfall kinetic energy under the banana (Musa nana Lour.) canopy: The role of leaf shapes

First Author: Zhang WJ
Abstract: Banana (Musa nana Lour.) plants have a distinctive canopy pattern with their extremely long and wide leaves. However, the effects of such distinct leaf shapes on rainfall redistribution and splash erosion are still poorly understood. Here, we investigated the basic characteristics of throughfall (TF) distribution and throughfall kinetic energy (TKE) and clarified the effect of specific leaf shapes on TKE under the individual banana plant (IBP) and the whole banana plantation (WBP) canopies. We found that the TF under the IBP and WBP canopies was 80.2% and 84.7% of the incident rainfall, respectively. The spatial variability of TF was high, which was attributed to the prominent funnelling and shading effects of the banana canopy. The KE at canopy drip points was significantly higher than that at canopy non-drip points and in open fields under both the IBP and the WBP canopies, implying that the negative effect of banana canopy drip points was far greater than the protective effect of non-drip points on splash erosion. In addition, the leaves at canopy drip points were classified as valley (Va), overlap (Ov), leaf tip (Ti), breakage (Br) and complex shapes (Cs). Significant differences in TKE among these leaf shapes were found, and the significantly lower TKE in Ti and the greater TKE in Cs than those in Va, Ov and Br were observed. As a result, these leaf shapes potentially affected TF splash erosion under the banana canopy. Further ecohydrological studies are required to improve heavy TF splash erosion in banana plantation and to create environmental-friendly plantation.
Contact the author: Liu WJ
Page Number: 104985
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Impact Factor: 4.333
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PubYear: Oct 2020
Volume: 197
Publication Name: Catena
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