Overland flow pathways probably play a key role in linking vegetation to its effects on runoff generation and soil loss on the hillslope. However, there is little empirical work testing the links. This study aims to address how flow pathway characteristics vary with plant spacing and determine their relationships with infiltration and soil loss. Upslope inflow experiments were carried out on 10 vegetated plots under a small inflow rate. Total flow path width (RW), mean width per flow path (WPP), and total flow path length (FL), were used to quantify the flow pathway characteristics by analyzing photographs of the plot surface taken during the experiment. The results showed that RW and WPP decreased (R² = 0.86 and R² = 0.90), while the FL increased (R² = 0.67) as alfalfa spacing increased. The RW was positively related to the infiltration rate in the early period of the experiment, indicating that runoff loss via infiltration as affected by the flow paths needs to be considered in hydrological models. Runoff velocity was detected to be significantly related to the flow pathway characteristics. The relationship can partially explain the variances of runoff hydraulics on the vegetated hillslopes in previous studies, in which the variation of flow pathways was not taken into account. The soil loss decreased with the RW and WPP while increased with the FL. As the flow pathway characteristics expressed real-time and actual movement of overland flow, they represented the functional connectivity of sediment on the hillslope. The relationships between soil loss and flow pathway became insignificant as the upslope inflow progressed despite no marked change in the flow pathway. Our results imply that both functional connectivity and the soil's resistance to erosion should be considered to obtain a good prediction of the soil loss from hillslopes.

陆上径流通路可能在将植被与其对径流生成和山坡土壤流失的影响联系起来的过程中起着关键作用。但是，很少有经验工作可以测试这些链接。这项研究旨在解决流径特征如何随植物间距变化并确定其与入渗和土壤流失之间的关系。在10个有植被的样地上以较小的流入速率进行了上坡入渗实验。通过分析实验期间拍摄的标绘表面的照片，使用总流路宽度（RW），每条流路平均宽度（WPP）和总流路长度（FL）来量化流路特性。结果表明RW和WPP降低（R ²  = 0.86和R ²  = 0.90），而FL增加（R ² = 0.67）随着苜蓿间距的增加。在实验的早期，RW与入渗率呈正相关，表明在水文模型中需要考虑由于入渗径流而受到径流损失的影响。检测到径流速度与流路特性显着相关。该关系可以部分解释先前研究中植被坡的径流水力的变化，其中没有考虑流动路径的变化。RW和WPP的土壤流失量减少，而FL的土壤流失量增加。由于流路特征表达了陆上水流的实时和实际运动，它们代表了山坡上沉积物的功能连通性。尽管流道没有明显变化，但随着上坡流入的进行，土壤流失与流道之间的关系变得微不足道。我们的结果表明，应同时考虑功能连通性和土壤的抗侵蚀性，以对山坡造成的土壤流失获得良好的预测。