Island‐dominated landscapes of large floodplain rivers, a European perspective

1. The landscapes of large floodplain rivers are characterised by heterogeneous environments related to the interplay of flood flows, sediment transport and vegetation dynamics. 2. The large rivers of Europe, and probably most rivers throughout the forest biomes, were characterised by islands but over the period of major human interference, many have become dominated by incision and narrowing so that they are now characterised by single-thread and relatively simple channel forms. 3. Vegetation plays an active role in developing heterogeneous channel forms through (a) biotic processes such as seed dispersal, vegetative regeneration and succession and (b) abiotic effects such as increasing flow resistance inducing sedimentation, and decreasing bank erodibility. 4. In particular, accumulations of living driftwood (cf. dead driftwood accumulations and dispersed seedlings) accelerate sedimentation and island development. 5. River reaches with vegetated islands have a high habitat diversity. 6. The natural influences of flood disturbance, wood accumulation, vegetation growth, island development and tree die-off, cause island-dominated reaches to undergo cycles of island growth and decay that are related to cycles of aquatic habitat diversification and simplification.

[1]  N. Lamouroux,et al.  Aquatic plant diversity in riverine wetlands: the role of connectivity , 1998 .

[2]  R. Warner.  Gross channel changes along the Durance River, Southern France, over the last 100 years using cartographic data , 2000 .

[3]  C. Nilsson,et al.  Fragmentation and Flow Regulation of River Systems in the Northern Third of the World , 1994, Science.

[4]  B. Middleton.  Sampling devices for the measurement of seed rain and hydrochory in rivers1 , 1995 .

[5]  William M. Lewis,et al.  The role of vegetation and bed-level fluctuations in the process of channel narrowing , 1996 .

[6]  Klement Tockner,et al.  Biodiversity of floodplain river ecosystems: ecotones and connectivity1 , 1999 .

[7]  Derald G. Smith,et al.  Effect of vegetation on lateral migration of anastomosed channels of a glacier meltwater river , 1976 .

[8]  F. Hughes.  The ecology of African floodplain forests in semi-arid and arid zones: a review , 1988 .

[9]  K. Tockner,et al.  An extension of the flood pulse concept. , 2000 .

[10]  K. Rogers,et al.  Linking riparian vegetation types and fluvial geomorphology along the Sabie River within the Kruger National Park, South Africa. , 1997 .

[11]  Jean-Luc Peiry,et al.  River incision in south-east France: morphological phenomena and ecological effects , 1997 .

[12]  Christer Nilsson,et al.  Hydrochory, population dynamics and distribution of the clonal aquatic plant Ranunculus lingua , 1993 .

[13]  G. Nanson,et al.  Forest Succession and Sedimentation on a Meandering-River Floodplain, Northeast British Columbia, Canada , 1977 .

[14]  A. G. Brown.  Long-term sediment storage in the Severn and Wye catchments , 1987 .

[15]  M. Church.  Geomorphic response to river flow regulation: Case studies and time-scales , 1995 .

[16]  G. Petts.  A perspective on the abiotic processes sustaining the ecological integrity of running waters , 2000, Hydrobiologia.

[17]  C. Hupp,et al.  Riparian vegetation and fluvial geomorphic processes , 1996 .

[18]  J. Stanford,et al.  The serial discontinuity concept : extending the model to floodplain rivers , 1995 .

[19]  J. Fruget.  Ecology of the lower rhône after 200 years of human influence: A review , 1992 .

[20]  D. Hannah,et al.  Wood storage within the active zone of a large European gravel-bed river , 2000 .

[21]  M. Reich,et al.  Grasshoppers (Orthoptera, Saltatoria) on alpine and dealpine riverbanks and their use as indicators for natural floodplain dynamics , 1991 .

[22]  C. Hupp,et al.  Bank accretion and the development of vegetated depositional surfaces along modified alluvial channels , 1991 .

[23]  A. Farjon,et al.  Vegetation zonation and primary succession along the Porcupine River in interior Alaska , 1985 .

[24]  A. Gurnell,et al.  Riparian seed banks: structure, process and implications for riparian management , 2001 .

[25]  P. Obrdlík,et al.  Surface water connection and the macrozoobenthos of two types of floodplains on the upper rhine , 1991 .

[26]  D. Pont,et al.  Hydrosedimentary classification of natural and engineered backwaters of a large river, the lower Rhône : Possible applications for the maintenance of high fish biodiversity , 1997 .

[27]  P. Coley,et al.  River dynamics and the diversity of Amazon lowland forest , 1986, Nature.

[28]  Christer Nilsson,et al.  Importance of hydrochory in structuring plant communities along rivers , 1991 .

[29]  F. Mouillot,et al.  Flood drift and propagule bank of aquatic macrophytes in a riverine wetland , 1998 .

[30]  J. McBride,et al.  Establishment and Survival of Woody Riparian Species on Gravel Bars of an Intermittent Stream , 1984 .

[31]  Charles C. Coutant,et al.  A GENERAL PROTOCOL FOR RESTORATION OF REGULATED RIVERS , 1996 .

[32]  N. Willby,et al.  Changes along a disturbance gradient in the density and composition of propagule banks in floodplain aquatic habitats , 1999, Plant Ecology.

[33]  W. A. Wistendahl,et al.  The Effects of Floodplain Trees on Herbaceous Vegetation Patterns, Microtopography and Litter , 1983 .

[34]  K. Tockner,et al.  Aquatic habitat diversity along the corridor of an Alpine flood plain river (Fiume Tagliamento, Italy)n , 2000 .

[35]  R. H. Kesel,et al.  Lateral Erosion and Overbank Deposition on the Mississippi River in Louisiana Caused by 1973 Flooding , 1974 .

[36]  J. Thorp.  Linkage between Islands and Benthos in the Ohio River, with Implications for Riverine Management , 1992 .

[37]  P. J. Edwards,et al.  A conceptual model of vegetation dynamics on gravel bars of a large Alpine river , 1999, Wetlands Ecology and Management.

[38]  E. Tabacchi,et al.  Impacts of riparian vegetation on hydrological processes , 2000 .

[39]  R. Naiman,et al.  The Role of Riparian Corridors in Maintaining Regional Biodiversity. , 1993, Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America.

[40]  Christian Baumgartner,et al.  Restoration of floodplain rivers: The ‘Danube restoration project’ , 1999 .

[41]  G. Pautou,et al.  A method for applied ecological studies of fluvial hydrosystems , 1987 .

[42]  Stephen E. Darby,et al.  Effect of Riparian Vegetation on Flow Resistance and Flood Potential , 1999 .

[43]  D. Hannah,et al.  Riparian vegetation and island formation along the gravel‐bed Fiume Tagliamento, Italy , 2001 .

[44]  M. Wolman,et al.  Downstream effects of dams on alluvial rivers. , 1984 .

[45]  K. Robertson,et al.  Geomorphic processes and spatial patterns of primary forest succession on the Bogue Chitto River, USA , 1999 .

[46]  W. C. Johnson,et al.  Tree recruitment and survival in rivers: influence of hydrological processes. , 2000 .

[47]  G. Petts.  Timescales for ecological change in regulated rivers , 1987 .

[48]  Mike R. Leeder,et al.  A simulation model of alluvial stratigraphy , 1979 .

[49]  H. Piégay,et al.  Channel instability as a control on silting dynamics and vegetation patterns within perifluvial aquatic zones. , 2000 .

[50]  Johannes Kollmann,et al.  The life history of Salicaceae living in the active zone of floodplains , 2002 .

[51]  F. Swanson,et al.  Large wood and fluvial processes , 2002 .

[52]  Typology of aquatic habitats in the great ouse, a small regulated lowland river , 1991 .

[53]  P. B. Cavers,et al.  An experimental study of water dispersal in Polygonum spp. , 1976 .

[54]  Cliff R. Hupp,et al.  Hydrological and geomorphological impacts on riparian plant communities , 2000 .

[55]  Bruce Abernethy,et al.  The effect of riparian tree roots on the mass-stability of riverbanks , 2000 .

[56]  G. Nanson,et al.  Anabranching rivers on the Northern Plains of arid central Australia , 1999 .

[57]  G. Nanson,et al.  Anastomosis and the continuum of channel pattern , 1993 .

[58]  Colin R. Townsend,et al.  The Patch Dynamics Concept of Stream Community Ecology , 1989, Journal of the North American Benthological Society.

[59]  O. Slaymaker,et al.  Vegetation composition in relation to flood frequency in Lillooet River valley, British Columbia , 1976 .

[60]  J. Ward,et al.  The Four-Dimensional Nature of Lotic Ecosystems , 1989, Journal of the North American Benthological Society.

[61]  Oliver Rackham,et al.  The History Of The Countryside , 1986 .

[62]  Andrew R.G. Large,et al.  Historical channel-floodplain dynamics along the River Trent: Implications for river rehabilitation , 1996 .

[63]  F. Foeckler,et al.  Water mollusc communities and bioindication of lower salzach floodplain waters , 1991 .

[64]  F. Douglas Shields,et al.  Cyclic perturbation of lowland river channels and ecological response , 2000 .

[65]  D. Hannah,et al.  Longitudinal variations in exposed riverine sediments: a context for the ecology of the Fiume Tagliamento, Italy , 2000 .

[66]  G. Petts,et al.  Historical Change of Large Alluvial Rivers: Western Europe , 1989 .

[67]  Robert B. Jacobson,et al.  Woody vegetation and channel morphogenesis in low-gradient, gravel-bed streams in the Ozark Plateaus, Missouri and Arkansas , 1995 .

[68]  J. Webster,et al.  Patch Dynamics in Lotic Systems: The Stream as a Mosaic , 1988, Journal of the North American Benthological Society.

[69]  G. Nanson,et al.  The role of vegetation in the formation of anabranching channels in an ephemeral river, Northern plains, arid central Australia , 2000 .

[70]  K. Rowntree,et al.  Vegetation controls on channel stability in the Bell River, Eastern Cape, South Africa , 1999 .

[71]  Geoffrey E. Petts,et al.  Impounded Rivers: Perspectives for Ecological Management , 1984 .

[72]  B. Rossaro,et al.  A reference river system for the Alps: the ‘Fiume Tagliamento’ , 1999 .

[73]  G. Nanson,et al.  ANABRANCHING RIVERS: THEIR CAUSE, CHARACTER AND CLASSIFICATION , 1996 .

[74]  Jean-Luc Peiry.  Channel degradation in the middle Arve river, France , 1987 .

[75]  C. Nilsson,et al.  Seed floating ability and distribution of alpine plants along a northern Swedish river , 1997 .

[76]  A. Goto,et al.  Genetic evidence supporting the existence of two distinct species in the genusGasterosteus around Japan , 1996, Environmental Biology of Fishes.

[77]  G. Nanson.  New evidence of scroll-bar formation on the Beatton River , 1981 .

[78]  R. Kalliola,et al.  River types, site evolution and successional vegetation patterns in Peruvian Amazonia , 1992 .

[79]  Geomorphological response of a river regulated for hydropower: River Fortun, Norway , 1997 .

[80]  J. Giudicelli,et al.  Impact of the residual flow on the physical characteristics and benthic community (algae, invertebrates) of a regulated Mediterranean river: the Durance, France , 1999 .

[81]  G. Copp,et al.  Juvenile fishes as functional describers of fluvial ecosystem dynamics: Applications on the river rhǒne, France , 1991 .

[82]  W. C. Johnson.  Equilibrium response of riparian vegetation to flow regulation in the Platte river, Nebraska , 1997 .

[83]  C. Hupp.  Hydrology, geomorphology and vegetation of Coastal Plain rivers in the south-eastern USA. , 2000 .

[84]  K. Kubitzki,et al.  Seed dispersal in flood plain forests of Amazonia , 1994 .

[85]  G. Minshall,et al.  The River Continuum Concept , 1980 .

[86]  B. Gerken,et al.  Composition and distribution of carabid communities along rivers and ponds in the region of upper weser (NW/NDS/FRG) with respect to protection and management of a floodplain ecosystem , 1991 .

[87]  Robert J. Naiman,et al.  Disturbance regimes, resilience, and recovery of animal communities and habitats in lotic ecosystems , 1990 .

[88]  J. Kollmann,et al.  Large wood retention in river channels: the case of the Fiume Tagliamento, Italy , 2000 .

[89]  Ward,et al.  Biodiversity: towards a unifying theme for river ecology , 2001 .

[90]  H. Lamb,et al.  Climate, history, and the modern world , 1983 .

[91]  G. Copp.  The habitat diversity and fish reproductive function of floodplain ecosystems , 1989, Environmental Biology of Fishes.