A preliminary comparative study on water retention by vegetation and soil in an area with a relatively dry climate (Neusa) and another with a relatively humid climate (Chuza), Cundinamarca, Colombia.
Abstract
A preliminary comparative study of water capacity of terrestric and epiphytic bryophytes, and of the water retention capacity of the soil, litter and humus was carried out in two areas in the vicinity of barrier lakes important for the drinking water supply of Bogotá, in Neusa (dry climate) and in Chuza in the national park of Chingaza (humid climate). The highest values of the storage capacity (Rm), measured as the difference between the weight of the saturated samples (m) and the dry biomass (b) (Rm=m-b), were found in the terrestric bryophytes of the subpáramo and the transition vegetation between páramo and andean forest (Neusa: 17 1/m²; Chuza: 44 1/m² with a maximum in a Sphagnum cushion of 65 1/m²), compared with the paramo and the andean forest. The terrestric bryophytes of the andean forests were found to have much higher values of Rm than those found by Pocs (1980) in the Uluguru Mountains, Tanzanía.
The highest water retention capacity of the soil samples (measured at 0, 0.3 and 15 bar) were found in the subparamo of Chuza, possibly related to their high percentage of organic matter and of carbon. In the most humed area (Chuza) were not only found the lighest values of the biomass of terrestric and epiphytic bryophytes, but also a pres- ence of a compsition of bryophytic species with a higher maximal storage factor (mutx= m/b).
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