Abstract
The impact of flood regimes on river floodplain vegetation within banks remains poorly understood. In this study, we examined the monthly variation of river floodplain vegetation coverage (RFVC) at a typical reach of the Yangtze River with a 30-year Landsat record. We evaluated its relationships with 13 hydrodynamic characteristic indices. Our results showed that the flow regime alteration associated with dam construction led to an increase in the downstream RFVC every month throughout the year. The maximum specific energy, reflecting both physical and physiological damage effects to riparian plants, was most negatively related to the RFVC after floods (i.e., from September to October) in the whole 30-year period (Adj.R2 = 0.64, p < 0.05). The flood duration with water levels above floodplain vegetation had the most significant negative correlation with RFVC in the post-dam period (Adj.R2 = 0.84, p < 0.05). Also, the change of riparian vegetation area in different elevation zones before and after floods mainly depended on the combined effect of vegetation distribution and flood intensity. Our findings give insights into river floodplain vegetation dynamics and provide scientific support to riparian vegetation modelling.
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