TROUGH VERSUS FUNNEL COLLECTORS FOR MEASURING THROUGHFALL VOLUMES

Throughfall was collected, at fortnightly intervals, for 1 yr beneath mature stands of Sitka spruce [Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.] and Japanese larch [Larix kaempferi (Lamb.) Carr.] using arrays of troughs and funnels. There was no statistically significant difference between the annual total amounts of throughfall collected by the troughs and the funnels. Analysis of the fortnightly data revealed a small bias toward a lower catch by the troughs, although for any given fortnight, quite large differences might occur. Discussion of the results in relation to a recent paper by Kostelnik et al. concludes that there is insufficient evidence on which to reject funnels in favor of troughs for throughfall studies.