Global water retention in forest canopy, litter, and soil layers and its controlling factors

Global water retention in forest canopy, litter, and soil layers and its controlling factors | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Global water retention in forest canopy, litter, and soil layers and its controlling factors Yexuan Liu, Wenjiao Shi, Fulu Tao, Xiaoli Shi This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-337448/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Forest ecosystems play a vital role in the earth’s hydrological process, and precipitation intercepted by forests accounts for more than a quarter of the water in the terrestrial hydrologic cycle. However, water retention in the three layers (canopy, litter, and soil) of forest ecosystems has not yet been thoroughly investigated on a global scale. Here, we investigate the global pattern of forest water retention capacity (WRC) and its controlling environmental factors based on 982 observations of 21 controlling factors in the three forest layers, mainly from 1990 to 2018. The results show that global WRC varies among the different forest types and climatic zones with a mean of 456.71 mm, while the average total water storage is 22,662.47 km3 in forest ecosystems. Climatic variables are the leading factors contributing to the variations in forest WRC, followed by forest structure factors, soil properties, terrain factors, and litter factors. This study advances our understanding of the mechanisms underlying large-scale variations in forest WRC in different climate zones and forest types. The findings demonstrate that controlling factors should be considered when developing policy for regions with important ecological functions. They also provide a benchmark to improve ecohydrological models for simulating global WRC. Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology/Ecosystem services Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology/Forest ecology Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology/Freshwater ecology Earth and environmental sciences/Hydrology forest ecosystem water retention capacity controlling factors Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SupplementaryinformationGlobalwaterretentioninforestcanopylitterandsoillayersanditscontrollingfactors.pdf Supplementary information SupplementaryinformationGlobalwaterretentioninforestcanopylitterandsoillayersanditscontrollingfactors.pdf NCOMMS2110621PRISMAflowchart.docx PRISMA flowchart reportingsummaryforNCOMMS2110621.pdf Reporting Summary Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-337448","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":21663690,"identity":"a4dfd25b-4a76-43ec-8001-2bc88e3db09a","order_by":0,"name":"Yexuan Liu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yexuan","middleName":"","lastName":"Liu","suffix":""},{"id":21663691,"identity":"cb969733-1ab5-404d-94ea-785d74f9cb21","order_by":1,"name":"Wenjiao Shi","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAx0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCcYGBokKCwYGZtK0nJEgSQsQM7ZJkOAu+dnNbRKW8yTy+dnZHzD8qGGQNyekxeDOwTYJyW0SljObeQwYe44xGO5sIKRFIrHtBlCLgcFhHgYG3gaGBIMDhBw2A6RljoSB/WH2B4x/idHCcAOkpQFoCzODATNRthjcSGz/IXFMwkDiMI/BYZljEoYbCDss/bGxRI2NAX//8YcP39TYyBN2GBAww2LlACSaiACMH4hTNwpGwSgYBSMVAACOXTio+2kkBAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China","correspondingAuthor":true,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wenjiao","middleName":"","lastName":"Shi","suffix":""},{"id":21663692,"identity":"2278d667-c59d-4281-a1db-79345b69eaa3","order_by":2,"name":"Fulu Tao","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Chinese Academy of Sciences","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Fulu","middleName":"","lastName":"Tao","suffix":""},{"id":21663693,"identity":"373b3e42-4331-4742-a17c-46925cfd7120","order_by":3,"name":"Xiaoli Shi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hebei Key Laboratory of Environmental Change and Ecological Construction, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, China","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xiaoli","middleName":"","lastName":"Shi","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2021-03-17 20:20:39","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-337448/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-337448/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":8171580,"identity":"f16a338f-ef42-4e8f-a8dd-17e077eeb180","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-04-19 14:44:53","extension":"jpg","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":100508,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"A total of 982 observations from sites in the canopy, litter, and soil layers from a seven forest cover types\n4\nin b 10 climate zones were collected from c 254 peer-reviewed publications from 1964 to 2018. According to the Köppen–Geiger system, climate zones were classified into tropical (tropical rainforest, tropical monsoon, and tropical savannah), arid, temperate (temperate and dry summer, temperate and dry winter, and temperate and no dry season), cold (cold and dry winter and cold and no dry season), and polar climates. Note: The designations employed and the presentation of the material on this map do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of Research Square concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. This map has been provided by the authors.\n","description":"","filename":"f1.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-337448/v1/b68931d930cda627fffe5004.jpg"},{"id":8172199,"identity":"e71f8e23-d477-48cb-9998-529a5d2c9598","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-04-19 14:47:53","extension":"jpg","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":83963,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Global patterns of a WRC, b CIC, c LWHC, and d SSC in e different forest types and different climate zones. Charts on the top and right of a show the longitudinal and latitudinal distributions of TWS, respectively. Note: The designations employed and the presentation of the material on this map do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of Research Square concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. This map has been provided by the authors.\n","description":"","filename":"f2.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-337448/v1/8d5843cc633fee562c559019.jpg"},{"id":8172958,"identity":"f66d2d7e-9f95-49ce-8fcf-d54213293081","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-04-19 14:50:53","extension":"jpg","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":92105,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Spearman correlations between single factors and CIC, LWHC, SSC, and WRC in different climate zones and forest cover types at (significance indicated by P 0.05). Due to the lack of data in the litter and soil layers, climate zones are combined into tropical (A), arid and temperate (BC), and cold and polar (DE) climate zones on the right side.","description":"","filename":"f3.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-337448/v1/706bffb1de24c934efb24314.jpg"},{"id":8172201,"identity":"f4795467-c278-4b34-9b94-eab5e81919c4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-04-19 14:47:53","extension":"jpg","order_by":4,"title":"Figure 4","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":77692,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Fitting curves between WRC and individual factors (P \u003c 0.01). The shaded bands show the 95% confidence intervals.","description":"","filename":"f4.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-337448/v1/4608201c16e22d00f2a68fb3.jpg"},{"id":8172203,"identity":"7dccca55-d6e1-4abc-96df-fc627487a960","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-04-19 14:47:53","extension":"jpg","order_by":5,"title":"Figure 5","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":87824,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Effects of multiple factors on a CIC, b LWHC, c SSC, and d WRC based on SEM. Purple boxes represent terrain factors, blue boxes represent climatic factors, green boxes represent forest structure factors, yellow boxes represent litter characteristics, and red boxes represent soil physical properties. Lines represent causation if straight or correlation if cambered; solid and dashed lines indicate positive and negative correlations, respectively.","description":"","filename":"f5.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-337448/v1/ce5afb552fbbb2aba17449f6.jpg"},{"id":13622907,"identity":"cc0bc38d-8c2d-427d-a0ec-5325835eb12e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-09-17 07:16:21","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2064107,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ManuscriptGlobalwaterretentioninforestcanopylitterandsoillayersanditscontrollingfactors.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-337448/v1_covered.pdf"},{"id":10497703,"identity":"5a4ddd58-7170-461f-b60c-62571522f5bf","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-06-17 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