Semiarid environments are characterised by the high variability of rainfall and the spatial heterogeneity of soil surface properties. These conditions favour the formation of sparse vegetation mosaics constituted by cells of plant patches and bare ground, that behave like sources and sinks of water and sediment fluxes. In turn, in these environments, the hydrofobicity phenomena may reach a great relevance, being the vegetation the main source of hydrophobic compounds. The present work shows the existence of water repellent soils in a semiarid environment in SE Spain and studies the role played by the vegetation, the soil properties and the latrines of rabbits in soil hydrophobicity generation. To demonstrate it, an approach at different scales (point hydrophobicity measurements, rain simulations in 0.24 m2 plots and runoff data from 20 m2 plots in natural rainfall events) has been carried out. The impacts of hydrophobicity at hillslope and catchment scale as well as and the implications in the hydrological responses are discussed.
