Forest litter

which has a high water storage and retention capacity

is an extremely important hydrological component for sustaining water conservation function of the forests.The variations of forest litter containing moisture(FLCM)and forest litter water storage(FLWS)were analyzed in Southern Jiangsu Province

associating with influencing factors such as soil water contents and meteorological parameters.The results show that evergreen broad-leaved

deciduous broad-leaved

pine(pinus taeda L.)

and bamboo forests had FLCM values from high to low

respectively

and similarly

deciduous broad-leaved

evergreen broad-leaved

pine

and bamboo forests had high to low FLWS values.Precipita-tion had an obvious impact on FLWS

as well as evaporation.The increase of FLCM resulted from precipitation normally had a time lag of 1 to 5 days.Evaporation correlated negatively with FLCM

with correlation coefficients of -0.39

-0.38

-0.13and-0.32for deciduous broad-leaved

ever-green broad-leaved

pine

and bamboo forests

respectively.FLWSS of deciduous forests(deciduous broad-leaved and bamboo)are affected by soil moisture contents more significantly than those of evergreen forests(pine and evergreen broad-leaved).FLWSS correlated with soil water contents of 10cm more closely than those of 20cm.