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The purpose of the study was to: (1) test if normative bark water storage capacities differed significantly among three co-occurring deciduous tree species; and (2) examine the extent to which stemflow production and resulting solute inputs in temperate deciduous forests are affected by bark water storage capacity. Normative bark water storage capacities were determined for: Betula lenta L. (sweet birch), Carya glabra Mill. (pignut hickory), and Quercus rubra L. (northern red oak). Using the computed normative bark water storage capacities, previously published allometric equations relating tree diameter to aboveground woody surface area, and stemflow yield and chemistry data from ten precipitation events, the influence of bark water storage capacity on stemflow production and solute inputs was examined. Results demonstrated normative bark water storage capacities differed significantly among the tree species examined. Quercus rubra was found to hold the most water and B. lenta the least. For a 30 cm diameter tree, normative bark water storage capacities ranged from approximately 100 l for B. lenta to 250 l for Q. rubra. Despite a higher normative bark water storage capacity, Q. rubra was computed to have the largest stemflow solute inputs. Differences in stemflow quantities as well as solute inputs were attributable to interspecific variation in bark morphology and branching architecture, characteristics that affect amount of storage and detention times. Bark water storage capacity is linked with the geoecology of temperate deciduous forests because stemflow volume and solute inputs are partly determined by bark water storage capacity.

Summary Rainfall was measured over a 3-year period along an altitudinal transect on Mount Bellenden Ker which is the wettest known locality in Australia. The mean annual rainfall totals recorded at 10 stations along the transect ranged from 4433 mm yr−1 to 8577 mm yr−1. Mean annual cation inputs were calculated for each site along the transect using rainfall chemistry data collected by BRASELL & GILMOUR (1980) and the measured rainfall totals. The weighted mean annual inputs to the entire windward slope of the mountain were calculated to be 11.8 kg ha−1 for Ca2+, 14.9 kg ha−1 for Mg2+, 122 kg ha−1 for Na+, and 8 kg ha−1 for K+. Despite the considerable variation in mean annual rainfall totals along the transect, these values were not significantly different from the estimates obtained by only using the rainfall data recorded at the base and summit of the mountain.