Fitting the analytical model of rainfall interception of Gash to individual shrubs of semi-arid vegetation in northeastern México

This study was conducted to estimate the components of interception loss and to fit the analytical model of rainfall interception of Gash to a semi-arid plant community in northeastern México. The interception and components of interception loss were estimated from measurements of gross rainfall, throughfall and stemflow in individual shrubs of Diospyrus texana, Acacia farnesiana and Prosopis laevigata. The components of the interception loss did not deviate from other estimates in other ecosystems, except for evaporation rate during storms. In general, the analytical model performed well, although estimated total interception loss was highly sensitive to changes in both the magnitude of evaporation rate during storms and the proportion of rainfall that is stemflow.