WATER REPELLENCY IN A DRY SCLEROPHYLL EUCALYPT FOREST - MEASUREMENTS AND PROCESSES

The magnitude of soil water repellency in a dry sclerophyll eucalypt forest was measured periodically over four years. The varying responses from a range of sites within the forest are discussed and the effect of amount and frequency of rainfall is shown. It was found that some weeks of consistently wet weather were required for water repellency breakdown, and a frequency of rainfall much greater than normal in the study area for it to remain broken down. Even after an extended period of breakdown, it was found that repellency can be reestablished after one week of hot dry weather. Laboratory tests were used to examine the major repellency processes; three were identified and the relative importance of each considered in the context of the field study. The relative influence of each depended on the physical and chemical characteristics of the sites. The repellent soil samples were more repellent to water of throughfall origin, and even more repellent to stemflow than to distilled water. The repellency response also varied with the type of vegetative cover present. The influence of these phenomena on the preservation of water repellency and the relevance of repellency in macropore infiltration processes are discussed.