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Sob a perspectiva de aumento da demanda global por biocombustíveis, em particular o etanol durante as próximas décadas, espera-se um crescimento ainda maior da indústria sucroalcooleira no Brasil. Aliada à expansão da cultura da cana-de-açúcar, as bacias nas quais se inserem esses plantios estão sujeitas a alterações no regime hidrológico, bem como à elevação do uso de fertilizantes nitrogenados, o que possui implicações na quantidade e qualidade da água nos corpos hídricos. Com intuito de avaliar esses impactos, o presente estudo visou caracterizar as vias hidrológicas e o transporte de nitrogênio associado a elas em vertentes cobertas por cana-de-açúcar localizadas em microbacias do Rio Corumbataí, noroeste do estado de São Paulo. Para isso, foram monitorados alguns processos hidrológicos, entre eles: precipitação total, precipitação interna, escoamento pelo caule, escoamento superficial, umidade do solo em quatro profundidades (15 cm, 30 cm, 50 cm e 90 cm) e deflúvio durante período de 21 de julho de 2012 a 22 de maio de 2013. A precipitação totalizou 1095 mm durante o período de estudo, dos quais em torno de 35% foram interceptados pela cultura. Não foram encontradas diferenças significativas entre o efeito de diferentes variedades de cana-de-açúcar no que se refere às perdas por interceptação. Além dessa, a parcela de água de chuva escoada pelo caule, a precipitação interna, o escoamento superficial e o deflúvio corresponderam, respectivamente, a 14%, 51%, 4,7% e 7,7% do total precipitado. Nesses compartimentos hidrológicos, de um modo geral, foram observadas baixas concentrações de nitrogênio, com exceção ao escoamento superficial, que apresentou altas concentrações, principalmente de nitrato. O aporte (deposição) de nitrogênio ao sistema, 2,81 kg N ha-¹, foi superior à perda fluvial: 0,45 kg N ha-¹ / The recent years have shown us that there is a perspective of increasing the global biofuels demand, particularly ethanol. In conjunction with the expansion of sugarcane crop, the watersheds in which these crops are founded are subject to hydrological changes, as well as the elevation of the use of nitrogen fertilizers. It has implications in the quantity and quality of water in streams. In order to assess these impacts, the present study aimed to characterize the hydrological flow paths and the associated nitrogen transport in hillslopes under sugarcane in two small watersheds at Corumbataí River, northwest of São Paulo. For this, we monitored some hydrological flow paths, including: gross rainfall, throughfall, stemflow, surface runoff, soil moisture at four depths (15 cm, 30 cm, 50 cm and 90 cm) and streamflow during period of 21 July 2012 to May 22, 2013. Gross rainfall was 1095 mm and around 35% was intercepted by the sugarcane canopy. No significant differences between different varieties of sugarcane were found for interception losses. In addition, rainfall was partitioned into stemflow, throughfall, surface runoff and streamflow as the following: 14%, 51%, 4.7% and 7.7%, respectively. Hydrological flow paths in general carried low nitrogen concentration, being the surface runoff the exception, which carried high levels of nitrate. The nitrogen input in the system was 2.81 kg N ha-¹, and the loss by streamflow was 0.45 kg N ha-1

Sob a perspectiva de aumento da demanda global por biocombustíveis, em particular o etanol durante as próximas décadas, espera-se um crescimento ainda maior da indústria sucroalcooleira no Brasil. Aliada à expansão da cultura da cana-de-açúcar, as bacias nas quais se inserem esses plantios estão sujeitas a alterações no regime hidrológico, bem como à elevação do uso de fertilizantes nitrogenados, o que possui implicações na quantidade e qualidade da água nos corpos hídricos. Com intuito de avaliar esses impactos, o presente estudo visou caracterizar as vias hidrológicas e o transporte de nitrogênio associado a elas em vertentes cobertas por cana-de-açúcar localizadas em microbacias do Rio Corumbataí, noroeste do estado de São Paulo. Para isso, foram monitorados alguns processos hidrológicos, entre eles: precipitação total, precipitação interna, escoamento pelo caule, escoamento superficial, umidade do solo em quatro profundidades (15 cm, 30 cm, 50 cm e 90 cm) e deflúvio durante período de 21 de julho de 2012 a 22 de maio de 2013. A precipitação totalizou 1095 mm durante o período de estudo, dos quais em torno de 35% foram interceptados pela cultura. Não foram encontradas diferenças significativas entre o efeito de diferentes variedades de cana-de-açúcar no que se refere às perdas por interceptação. Além dessa, a parcela de água de chuva escoada pelo caule, a precipitação interna, o escoamento superficial e o deflúvio corresponderam, respectivamente, a 14%, 51%, 4,7% e 7,7% do total precipitado. Nesses compartimentos hidrológicos, de um modo geral, foram observadas baixas concentrações de nitrogênio, com exceção ao escoamento superficial, que apresentou altas concentrações, principalmente de nitrato. O aporte (deposição) de nitrogênio ao sistema, 2,81 kg N ha-¹, foi superior à perda fluvial: 0,45 kg N ha-¹ / The recent years have shown us that there is a perspective of increasing the global biofuels demand, particularly ethanol. In conjunction with the expansion of sugarcane crop, the watersheds in which these crops are founded are subject to hydrological changes, as well as the elevation of the use of nitrogen fertilizers. It has implications in the quantity and quality of water in streams. In order to assess these impacts, the present study aimed to characterize the hydrological flow paths and the associated nitrogen transport in hillslopes under sugarcane in two small watersheds at Corumbataí River, northwest of São Paulo. For this, we monitored some hydrological flow paths, including: gross rainfall, throughfall, stemflow, surface runoff, soil moisture at four depths (15 cm, 30 cm, 50 cm and 90 cm) and streamflow during period of 21 July 2012 to May 22, 2013. Gross rainfall was 1095 mm and around 35% was intercepted by the sugarcane canopy. No significant differences between different varieties of sugarcane were found for interception losses. In addition, rainfall was partitioned into stemflow, throughfall, surface runoff and streamflow as the following: 14%, 51%, 4.7% and 7.7%, respectively. Hydrological flow paths in general carried low nitrogen concentration, being the surface runoff the exception, which carried high levels of nitrate. The nitrogen input in the system was 2.81 kg N ha-¹, and the loss by streamflow was 0.45 kg N ha-1

Rainfall interception is a primary control over the moisture input to a forested ecosystem through the partitioning of precipitation into throughfall, stemflow, and an evaporated component (i.e. the interception loss). Rainfall interception is a spatially and temporally varying process at multiple scales, but heterogeneity in interception processes are poorly understood and poorly described in the literature. We need to know how net precipitation varies in ecosystems because natural systems are driven by non-linear ecohydrological processes where mean values cannot capture localized effects or the cumulative consequences associated with an extremely heterogeneous input. In this thesis, we present two studies that investigate the heterogeneity of interception loss and throughfall in a forested catchment in the western Cascades range of Oregon. In one study, we examined the spatio-temporal patterns among point measurements of throughfall depth and isotopic composition to determine the cause of isotopic differences between throughfall and rainfall. Our results indicated that the residual moisture retained on the canopy from previous events plays a major role in determining the isotopic composition of the next event's throughfall. Differences between the isotopic composition of throughfall samples could indicate further partitioning of throughfall into various flow-paths from the canopy. The second project examined the question of how vegetation variability and terrain complexity drive interception loss heterogeneity at the whole-catchment scale. We applied a simple interception model to a watershed gridded at a 50 m resolution to investigate the relative importance of topographic and vegetative controls over the spatial variability of interception loss. We found that storm characteristics are crucial regarding the impact of spatial heterogeneities in vegetation and evaporation rates. In the Pacific Northwest climate, interception loss is not highly variable for the majority of the year because the annual precipitation is dominated by large storms with low interception losses. However, the net precipitation input to a watershed becomes extremely heterogeneous in the summer due to high interception loss variability. Summer interception loss could be an important control over the spatial variability of the availability of moisture, coinciding with when vegetation is most water-limited. / Graduation date: 2013