Water erosion and runoff were evaluated in the laboratory, in relation to vegetation cover and soil characteristics. An experimental design using samples treatments as bare soil and mulched soil was established. The soil loss between treatments, no significant differences (p => 0.05); however, it was observed that the average loss of soil was higher in the treatment of bare soil (X = 14.56 g/m3); while the soil with vegetation presented a soil loss of 6.8 g/m3. As runoff not significant (p => 0.05) was obtained although again the bare soil sample had the highest rate of runoff (319 ml). The results show that erosion could be a good indicator of early changes in the soil associated with the loss of vegetation cover; the information generated from this experiment could serve as a reference point to establish best practices related to the use of this resource.