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Riparian ecosystems fundamentally depend on groundwater, especially in dryland regions, yet their water requirements and sources are rarely considered in water resource management decisions. Until recently, technological limitations and data gaps have hindered assessment of groundwater influences on riparian ecosystem health at the spatial and temporal scales relevant to policy and management. Here, we analyze Sentinel-2–derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI; n = 5,335,472 observations), field-based groundwater elevation (n = 32,051 observations), and streamflow alteration data for riparian woodland communities (n = 22,153 polygons) over a 5-y period (2015 to 2020) across California. We find that riparian woodlands exhibit a stress response to deeper groundwater, as evidenced by concurrent declines in greenness represented by NDVI. Furthermore, we find greater seasonal coupling of canopy greenness to groundwater for vegetation along streams with natural flow regimes in comparison with anthropogenically altered streams, particularly in the most water-limited regions. These patterns suggest that many riparian woodlands in California are subsidized by water management practices. Riparian woodland communities rely on naturally variable groundwater and streamflow components to sustain key ecological processes, such as recruitment and succession. Altered flow regimes, which stabilize streamflow throughout the year and artificially enhance water supplies to riparian vegetation in the dry season, disrupt the seasonal cycles of abiotic drivers to which these Mediterranean forests are adapted. Consequently, our analysis suggests that many riparian ecosystems have become reliant on anthropogenically altered flow regimes, making them more vulnerable and less resilient to rapid hydrologic change, potentially leading to future riparian forest loss across increasingly stressed dryland regions.

Under the influence of climate change and human activities, riparian ecosystems in arid regions are facing severe challenges such as extensive vegetation death. Meanwhile, conventional reservoir operation and vegetation irrigation have low water use efficiency and unsatisfactory vegetation restoration effect. For improving the efficiency of water resources regulation and protect riparian ecosystems in arid regions, this study proposes a multi-objective reservoir-gate ecological operation model coupled with vegetation priority irrigation. Firstly, based on ecological project layout and riparian vegetation types, ecological irrigation districts and ecological functional zones are divided for precise zoning water regulation, and then the irrigation order of \"key protected zones > key restoration zones > ecological sensitive zones\" and the water supply priority of irrigation districts are formulated for vegetation priority irrigation. Secondly, a long-term multi-objective reservoir-gate operation model coupled with vegetation priority irrigation is established, and an improved parallel approximate evaluation-based algorithm (RG-PAEM) is proposed for enhancing the search ability and calculation efficiency of optimization model. Finally, ecological operation effects under vegetation priority irrigation are analyzed through a case study of Tarim River basin in northwestern China. Results show that: (1) compared with conventional ecological irrigation, vegetation priority irrigation improves ecological and agricultural water supplies in Tarim River mainstream; (2) under vegetation priority irrigation, annual ecological water supplies of Level I to Level V irrigation districts account for 3%, 15%, 28%, 48%, and 6% of the total, respectively, and monthly ecological water supply reaches the maximum in July; (3) the upper and middle reaches of mainstream are important areas for riparian vegetation protection, the ecological water shortage decreased by 10% and 16% respectively through reservoir-gate ecological operation and vegetation priority irrigation. The study results provide theoretical and technical support for achieving scientific water resources regulation and sustaining desert riparian ecosystems.

Land use and land cover changes driven by urbanization and agricultural expansion have increasingly degraded the ecological health of stream ecosystems across watersheds. In Republic of Korea, the Ministry of Environment has designated riparian zones to protect water quality and preserve aquatic ecosystems and continues to implement policies for their management. Given the long-term nature of riparian zone management, providing robust scientific evidence to justify and refine these policies is imperative. In this study, we quantitatively evaluated the role of riparian vegetation on water quality and aquatic ecosystems by using Bayesian Networks. Scenarios were designed to compare the individual effects of riparian vegetation and combined effects of urban and agricultural land use changes. The results indicated that riparian vegetation positively influenced water quality and the benthic macroinvertebrate index at the sub-watershed scale. When riparian vegetation and land use factors were jointly adjusted, scenarios with high riparian vegetation coverage showed improved probabilities of good BMI scores—24.3% under highly agricultural conditions and 27.4% under highly urbanized conditions—highlighting a substantial vegetation effect, particularly in urban areas. This study provides a scientific basis for guiding future riparian restoration and management efforts.

Riparian vegetation plays a critical role in maintaining ecosystem function, ensuring drainage capacity, and enhancing disaster prevention and mitigation. However, existing ground-based survey methods are limited in both spatial coverage and temporal resolution, which increases the difficulty of meeting the growing demand for rapid, dynamic, and fine-scale monitoring of riverine vegetation. To address this challenge, this study proposes a remote sensing approach that integrates Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar imagery with Sentinel-2 optical data. A composite vegetation index was developed by combining the normalized difference vegetation index and synthetic aperture radar backscatter coefficients, thereby enabling the joint characterization of horizontal and vertical vegetation activity. The method was first tested in the Kuji River Basin in Japan and subsequently validated across eight representative river systems nationwide using 16 sets of satellite images acquired between 2016 and 2023. The results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves an average geometric correction error of less than three pixels and yields a spatial distribution of the composite index that closely aligns with the actual vegetation conditions. Moreover, the difference rate between sparse and dense vegetation exceeded 90% across all rivers, indicating a strong discriminative capability and temporal sensitivity. Overall, this method is well-suited for the multiregional and multitemporal monitoring of riparian vegetation and offers a reliable quantitative tool for water environment management and ecological assessment.

The objective of the study was to determine the relationship between the structure of phytocenoses in riparian wetland ecosystems and the hydrologic regime in a lowland river floodplain. The hydrobotanical study was conducted over three years—2017, 2018, and 2019—which differed in hydrological conditions (wet, average, and dry) in a middle section of the Supraśl floodplain (NE Poland) as a case study. The results showed that the structure and pattern of phytocenoses in the floodplain are primarily controlled by the hydrological regime of the river and the geomorphological features of the area. The reach and duration of the flood contributed to a specific pattern of riparian vegetation. Based on the plant community structure and riparian habitat indicators such as soil moisture, fertility, reaction pH, soil granulometry, and organic matter content, four habitat types were identified and supported by linear discriminant analysis (LDA): wet, semi-wet, semi-dry, and dry zones. The indicator species analysis (ISA) revealed species characteristic of the zones with the dominance of reed rush, reed canary grass, anthropogenic or partially natural herbaceous communities along watercourses or riparian meadows, respectively. Natural inundation of the river water is an important driver of site-specific vegetation elements and habitat types and determines habitat availability, biodiversity, and ecosystem functions of wetlands. This knowledge can serve as the basis for conservation efforts, sustainable management practices, and decision-making processes aimed at maintaining the biodiversity and ecological integrity of riparian ecosystems in similar regions.

River and lake health assessment (RLHA) is an important approach to alleviating the conflict between protecting river and lake ecosystems and fostering socioeconomic development, aiming for comprehensive protection, governance, and management. Vegetation, a key component of the riparian zone, supports and maintains river and lake health (RLH) by providing a range of ecological functions. While research on riparian zone vegetation is ongoing, these studies have not yet been synthesized from the perspective of integrating RLHA with the ecological functions of riparian zone vegetation. In this paper, based on the bibliometric method, the relevant literature studies on the topics of RLHA and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote sensing of vegetation were screened and counted, and the keywords were highlighted, respectively. Based on the connotation of RLH, this paper categorizes the indicators of RLHA into five aspects: water space: the critical area from the river and lake water body to the land in the riparian zone; water resources: the amount of water in the river and lake; water environment: the quality of water in the river and lake; water ecology:aquatic organisms in the river and lake; and water services:the function of ecosystem services in the river and lake. Based on these five aspects, this paper analyzes the key role of riparian zone vegetation in RLHA. In this paper, the key roles of riparian zone vegetation in RLHA are summarized as follows: stabilizing riverbanks, purifying water quality, regulating water temperature, providing food, replenishing groundwater, providing biological habitats, and beautifying human habitats. This paper analyzes the application of riparian zone vegetation ecological functions in RLH, summarizing the correlation between RLHA indicators and these ecological functions. Moreover, this paper analyzes the advantages of UAV remote sensing technology in the quantitative monitoring of riparian zone vegetation. This analysis is based on the high spatial and temporal resolution characteristics of UAV remote sensing technology and focuses on monitoring the ecological functions of riparian zone vegetation. On this basis, this paper summarizes the content and indicators of UAV quantitative remote sensing monitoring of riparian zone vegetation for RLHA. It covers several aspects: delineation of riparian zone extent, identification of vegetation types and distribution, the influence of vegetation on changes in the river floodplain, vegetation cover, plant diversity, and the impact of vegetation distribution on biological habitat. This paper summarizes the monitoring objects involved in monitoring riparian zones, riparian zone vegetation, river floodplains, and biological habitats, and summarizes the monitoring indicators for each category. Finally, this paper analyzes the challenges of UAV quantitative remote sensing for riparian zone vegetation at the current stage, including the limitations of UAV platforms and sensors, and the complexity of UAV remote sensing data information. This paper envisages the future application prospects of UAV quantitative remote sensing for riparian zone vegetation, including the development of hardware and software such as UAV platforms, sensors, and data technologies, as well as the development of integrated air-to-ground monitoring systems and the construction of UAV quantitative remote sensing platforms tailored to actual management applications.

Many studies have reported a negative impact of freshwater habitat modification on biota. Nevertheless, some man-made water bodies have proven to be valuable for biodiversity conservation as they can harbour many species. We investigated 36 man-made water bodies to determine their suitability as habitats for Odonata. Larvae were sampled in littoral, during the summer months of 2016 and 2017. At each sampling site, ten samples were collected using a benthos hand net. A total of 21 Odonata species was recorded. Odonata assemblages mainly consisted of common widespread species. Yet, at Vlačine Reservoir, located in the Dinaric Western Balkan ecoregion, we also recorded a rare and endangered Mediterranean species, Lindenia tetraphylla (Vander Linden, 1825). Aquatic and riparian vegetation, water level fluctuations and dissolved oxygen concentration had the highest influence on Odonata, showing that man-made water bodies with a well-developed riparian zone and aquatic vegetation, and with low daily and seasonal water level fluctuations, can provide suitable habitats for diverse Odonata species. Odonata are among the sensitive freshwater insects widely used as ecological indicators and umbrella species, therefore these results about their assemblages in heavily modified and man-made habitats could contribute to future conservation activities of freshwater biota and habitats. De nombreuses études ont fait état d'un impact négatif des modifications des habitats d'eau douce sur leur biote. Néanmoins, certains lacs artificiels se sont révélés précieux pour la conservation de la biodiversité car ils peuvent abriter de nombreuses espèces. C'est pourquoi nous avons étudié 36 lacs artificiels afin de déterminer dans quelle mesure ils peuvent représenter des habitats appropriés pour les Odonates. Les larves ont été échantillonnées pendant les mois d'été 2016 et 2017. Sur chaque site d'échantillonnage, un total de dix échantillons a été collecté à l'aide d'un filet à main pour le benthos. Un total de 21 espèces d'Odonates a été enregistré. Les assemblages d'Odonates étaient principalement constitués d'espèces communes largement répandues. Cependant, sur le site de réservoir Vlačine, situé dans l'écorégion des Balkans occidentaux dinariques, nous avons également enregistré une des espèces méditerranéennes rares et menacées, Lindenia tetraphylla (Vander Linden, 1825). La végétation aquatique et rivulaire, la fluctuation du niveau d'eau et la concentration d'oxygène dissous ont eu la plus grande influence sur les Odonates, montrant que les lacs artificiels avec une végétation aquatique et une zone rivulaire bien développées, et avec de faibles fluctuations du niveau d'eau, peuvent fournir des habitats appropriés pour diverses espèces d'Odonates. Les Odonates font partie des insectes d'eau douce sensibles largement utilisés comme indicateurs écologiques et comme espèces parapluie. Nos résultats concernant leurs assemblages dans des habitats fortement modifiés et artificiels pourraient donc contribuer aux futures activités de conservation du biote et des habitats d'eau douce.

Desert riparian vegetation forms an ecological corridor in extremely arid environments, and ecological water conveyance is an important measure of vegetation restoration and biodiversity conservation in desert riparian zones. Studying the responses of vegetation to ecological water conveyance and changes in this process in arid desert riparian zones and assessing the comprehensive benefits of ecological water conveyance are highly significant for ecological conservation and restoration in addition to the formulation of water transfer policies. Previous studies mainly used a single indicator to evaluate the ecological restoration of the mainstream Tarim River in Northwest China; thus, systematic and comprehensive assessments based on multiple indicators have not been conducted. In the present study, remote sensing data and field surveys were used to analyze the ecological restoration status of the Tarim River during 2015–2021 in terms of hydrological responses, vegetation responses, and ecological water conveyance benefits. The results showed that groundwater levels and soil moisture in the mainstream area of the Tarim River increased significantly from 2015 to 2021. The amount of groundwater storage also increased. Ecological water conveyance has created good hydrological conditions for groundwater recharge and ecological restoration on both sides of the mainstream area of the Tarim River. Desert forest ecosystems, mainly comprising Populus euphratica and Tamarix ramosissima, have been saved and rejuvenated in water conveyance areas. After ecological water conveyance, the Simpson and Shannon–Wiener indices increased significantly, but the diversity level began to decline and then stabilize with the increase in water conveyance frequency. The overall habitat status improved and the quality of the ecological environment below the Wusiman section of the middle reaches of the Tarim River improved significantly.

Riparian vegetation plays a vital role in inhibiting soil and water loss, but few studies have quantified the relationships between vegetation spatial pattern and the hydraulic characteristics of upslope runoff. This study investigated how hydraulic characteristics (e.g., runoff coefficient, flow regime, flow resistance, and flow shear stress of overland flow) responded to differences in vegetation cover (15% and 30%), slope gradient (5°, 10°, 15°, and 20°), and vegetation pattern in the riparian zone along the lower Yellow River, China, based on landscape pattern analysis and a runoff scouring experiment with flow rates of 9 and 15 L/min and an experimental plot size of 1 m × 3 m. We found that runoff generation on shallow slopes was moderated by increasing vegetation cover, but that this moderating effect decreased on steeper slopes. The regime of overland flow switched from laminar and subcritical on the 5° slope (Fr = 0.56–0.87) to laminar and critical on the 10°, 15°, and 20° slopes (Fr = 1.02–2.18). Flow resistance increased with vegetation cover and flow rate and decreased with slope gradients, and it was larger on shallow slopes with high vegetation cover. Flow shear stress had a range of 1.42–3.55 N m−2, and it increased with increasing slope gradient, vegetation cover, and flow rate. The hydraulic characteristics of upslope runoff, especially flow resistance, were significantly related to vegetation pattern at both the landscape and class levels. Flow resistance was negatively related to patch density, and positively related to perimeter–area fractal dimension and connectance index. The influencing mechanism of landscape patterns on soil erosion processes is dependent on the landscape scale, since the relationships between flow resistance and some landscape pattern indices (aggregation index, effective mesh size, and splitting index) were opposite at the landscape level compared to the class level. We conclude that fragmented vegetation distributions reduce flow resistance, and that riparian vegetation could be managed to inhibit slope erosion by increasing flow resistance.

Marine riparian areas and coastal vegetation are essential and important to the coastal marine ecosystem, although their interactions and functions are still unknown and ignored in marine ecological studies and integrated management planning. In southeastern Brazil, allochthonous resources derived from riparian Atlantic rainforests bordering rocky shores have been observed in abundance together with the shallow subtidal rocky reef benthos. In this study, we used stable isotopes (δ13C and δ15N) to characterize the main components in a benthic trophic web on a shallow tropical rocky shore, to identify the proportional contributions of allochthonous (marine riparian vegetation—MRV) to autochthonous (phytoplankton and algae) inputs and to test which basal food resources contributed most to the marine community on the Atlantic Forest–rocky coast interface. We found eight major food resources and seventeen consumers that we classified into different groups according to their feeding habits and biology. Although the main source of basal resources in the benthic trophic web in the present study remained autochthonous, the allochthonous resources were assimilated by all consumers. MRV is thus an important resource for some primary consumers and it should be included as a potential source of basal resources in marine ecosystems adjacent to marine riparian areas.