Dataset for: "Can vegetation clearing operations and reprofiling of bars be considered as an ecological restoration measure? Lessons from a 10-year vegetation monitoring program (Loire River, France)"

Using a before-after-control-impact (BACI) design with monitoring of riparian vegetation over 10 years, we evaluated the effects of fluvial maintenance works (clearing vegetation, removing roots and lowering sediment bar elevation) on plant richness and composition in an island complex located in a Nature Reserve along the Middle Loire River. Data were collected between 2012 and 2021 on three islands (i.e. sampling unit) using a method known as whole-plot floristic inventories (close to exhaustive method). It consists in surveying sampling units of similar size, herein islands of about 2.5–3 ha each, during a controlled research time of 1.75 hours for two persons or 2.67 hours for one person, where all the vascular plants at least partly rooted in terrestrial conditions are noted. To characterize the entire plant community, account for plant phenology and insure the reproducibility of the observations, three complete surveys were conducted per year on each island by the same experienced botanist team.