Data on riparian plant communities on gravel bars in the Rhône, Drôme and Ain rivers

Data were collected in five river reaches: unregulated reach with active bedload transport (Drôme River, DRM), regulated reach with active bedload transport (Ain River, AIN), regulated reach with stabilized baseflow and active bedload transport (Rhône River, Miribel-Jonage bypassed reach, MRJ), regulated reach with stabilized baseflow and inactive bedload transport, with riparian vegetation management by brush clearing (Rhône River, Pierre-Bénite bypassed reach, PBN) or plowing (Rhône River, Donzère-Mondragon bypassed reach, DZM). For each river reach, two gravel bars were sampled during the summers of 2017 and 2018. On each gravel bar, the vegetation was surveyed within twelve 5 x 5 m quadrats (25 m²) positioned along three transects (four quadrats per transect) oriented perpendicularly to the river.