Abstract: With the increasing demand for clean water, the water conservation of forest ecosystem has raised increasing concerns. This paper reviewed the researc h progress on the concept of water conservation, summarized its main manifestati ons, and introduced the measurement methods of water storage. The current studie s lack a comprehensive analysis of the water conservation function of forest eco system. Water conservation is a dynamic comprehensive concept, which develops wi th the advancements in forest hydrology research. The broad and narrow senses of water conservation could be found in recent literatures. The manifestations of water conservation in a broad sense cover the rainfall interception and storage, runoff regulation, precipitation increasing (in debate), and water purification , etc., while the actual manifestations of water conservation are closely linked to the study area, objectives, and scales. Currently, the methods for measuring the amount of conserved water include soil water storage capacity method, water balance method, annual runoff method, and multiple-factor regression analysis m ethod, etc., and all of them have their prerequisites and limitations. In practi ce, the measurement methods should be selected according to actual situations.

Key words: Forest fire risk zone, GIS, Daxing'an Mountains