论文简要回顾了森林水文学的研究历史，并重点介绍了在森林水文学研究中居于重要地位的森林集水区研究的起源与发展，分析了这一研究方法的特点，并对主要研究结果进行了比较。大多数研究结果显示，去除森林可以使径流量增加，但森林与水的关系极其复杂，森林对径流量的影响因地域、森林类型以及森林管理方式等因素的不同而存在差异；在评价森林对流域径流量的影响时应全面考虑，分析各地区之间的差别，一个地区所得的结果不能作为森林生态系统水文功能的普遍规律而在其它条件不同的地区加以应用。今后应加强合作研究，特别是利用网络研究对比不同集水区之间的结果来探讨森林对径流的影响，同时重视新技术和新方法的应用。

 This summary and review dealt with the history of forest hydrology and catchment research． Most results of the catchment experiments showed that forest clearing would increase the water yield but the impacts of the forest vegetation on water yield were complex，which depen ded on many factors such as topography climate， soil catchment area forest type， management and so on． It is impossible to extrapolate the result from one area to another or from one scale to another because there are many differences between them．A developing trend to study are the combination of data from a number of catchments that have different characteristics and the application of new measurring technics and approaches．