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Morphological characteristics and water harvesting function of six urban shrub species: implications on sustainable greenspaces in a semi-humid region

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Abstract

Urban shrubs are more likely to form a funnel-shaped water harvesting system and play a critical role for sustainable greenspaces in semi-humid region. To identify the main influencing factors of water harvesting function and select suitable urban shrubs for potential soil water storage, this study simulated rainfall to investigate the water harvesting function of six shrub species: Ligustrum × vicaryi, Euonymus japonicus, Buxus sinica var. parvifolia, Photinia × fraseri, Juniperus chinensis and Platycladus orientalis. The results can be summarized as follows. (1) The leaf area index (LAI) of J. chinensis and P. orientalis was significantly higher than those of the other four shrubs (p < 0.01), and their leaf wettability was also greater. (2) With the increase in the rainfall intensity, throughfall and stemflow increased and canopy interception decreased owing to canopy saturation at increased rainfall. Throughfall and stemflow of shrubs with broad leaves were significantly greater than those of coniferous shrubs (p < 0.05). However, the canopy interception demonstrates the opposite pattern (p < 0.05). (3) The water volume of throughfall at the center of the canopy projection area was the lowest, and throughfall increased with the increase in the distance from the center. When the rainfall intensity was low (30 mm/h), throughfall at the center was small, and the canopy interception and stemflow were significantly greater. As the rainfall intensity gradually increased from low to moderate (60 mm/h) and heavy rain (90 mm/h), the funnel-shaped water harvesting system tended to shrink due to the increase of throughfall at the edge of the canopy. (4) The LAI, leaf width, leaf length/width ratio, and contact angle were significantly correlated with the canopy interception (p < 0.01). The LAI, leaf shape, and leaf wettability are the most critical factors affecting shrub canopy interception.

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Data Availability

All the authors declare that the data and material can be shared by contacting HL after the project conclusion reports being approved.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank staff members of Urban Forest Ecosystem Research Group in Qingdao Agricultural University for their assistance in the field work. We also thank Prof. Richard J. Hauer, Prof. Qinglin Li, Dr. Jing Li, Dr. Shimei Li, and Dr. Jinming Yang for their suggestions and the revisions on the manuscript. We are grateful to Miss Boseren Melanesia Brigite, Prof. Richard J. Hauer, and two scholars from WORDVICE for the English language editing services on the manuscript. We appreciate the detailed suggestions and comments from the editor and two reviewers.

Funding

This study was supported by the projects of Qingdao Science and Technology Foundation for Public Wellbeing (23-2-8-cspz-10-nsh; 19-6-1-86-nsh), the Science & Technology Specific Projects in Agricultural High-tech Industrial Demonstration Area of the Yellow River Delta (2022SZX16), National Natural Science Foundation of China (31870428), the Fund of High-level Talents of Qingdao Agricultural University (663/1116023; 663/1120089).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Landscape Architecture and Forestry, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, Shandong, 266109, China

    Yuwu Li, Xining Shao, Jielei Yu, Chunling Zhou & Haifang Li

  2. Academy of Dongying Efficient Agricultural Technology and Industry on Saline and Alkaline Land in Collaboration with Qingdao Agricultural University, Dongying, Shandong, 257347, China

    Yuwu Li

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  1. Yuwu Li
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Contributions

YL and HL designed experiments and initiated research project. YL, XS, JY, CZ, and HL performed experiments and analyzed data. CZ and HL provided resources and technical assistance. All authors contributed to the writing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Haifang Li.

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Yuwu Li and Xining Shao contributed equally to this work.

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Li, Y., Shao, X., Yu, J. et al. Morphological characteristics and water harvesting function of six urban shrub species: implications on sustainable greenspaces in a semi-humid region. Urban Ecosyst 26, 1155–1168 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-023-01373-5

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