Water use of forests in the Netherlands

Forests are complex ecosystems with a large variability in the horizontal as well as in the vertical space. To study the dissimilarities in water use for different forest types, the water and energy balance of five forest stands in the Netherlands were observed during periods varying from two years to more than 15 years. The main tree species of the stands were: Scots pine, poplar, oak, larch and at one site a mixture of pine, birch, beech and oak