Can environmental flows moderate riparian invasions? The influence of seedling morphology and density on scour losses in experimental floods

Predicting plant mortality during floods remains a key area of uncertainty for both river managers and ecologists, particularly how flood hydraulics and sediment dynamics interact with the plants’ own traits to influence their vulnerability to scour and burial. The three datasets in this archive were collected from a series of flume experiments that took place at the University of California, Berkeley’s Richmond Field Station. The flume experiments are part of a larger study, funded by NSF (EAR#1024820) that quantified reciprocal effects and feedbacks between riparian seedlings and river morphodynamics, using sand-bed rivers in the U.S. Southwest as the reference system. To quantify different plant species’ vulnerability to flooding across a range of plant sizes, patch densities, and sediment condition (equilibrium transport versus sediment deficit), we ran 10 experimental floods using live seedlings of cottonwood and tamarisk, which have contrasting morphologies. The three datasets include: 1. Plant responses (dislodgement or burial) to the experimental floods and plant size (e.g. stem height, root length, and dry weight) for all plants tested during the flume runs (N = 484, comprising 326 cottonwood and 158 tamarisk); 2. Plant morphological traits (e.g. frontal area, bending force, and root diameter) for a random subset of seedlings (n = 90, comprising 47 cottonwood and 43 tamarisk); and 3. Frontal area density for the same seedling subset.

洪水期间植物死亡的预测，仍是河流管理者与生态学家面临的核心不确定性问题之一，尤其是洪水水力学与泥沙动力如何与植物自身性状相互作用，进而影响其遭受冲刷与掩埋的脆弱性。本存档中的三份数据集，采集自美国加利福尼亚大学伯克利分校里士满野外站开展的一系列水槽实验。本次水槽实验隶属于一项由美国国家科学基金会（NSF，资助编号EAR#1024820）资助的大型研究，该研究以美国西南部的砂质河床河流为参照系统，量化了河岸幼苗与河流地貌动力学之间的相互作用与反馈机制。为量化不同植物物种在多样植物尺寸、斑块密度及泥沙条件（平衡输沙与泥沙亏缺）下的洪水脆弱性，本研究使用形态特征迥异的美洲杨（cottonwood）与柽柳（tamarisk）活体幼苗开展了10组洪水实验。三份数据集具体如下：1. 水槽实验中所有受试植物（共计484株，包含326株美洲杨与158株柽柳）对实验洪水的响应（倒伏或掩埋情况），以及植株尺寸相关指标（如茎高、根长与干重）；2. 随机选取的90株幼苗子集（包含47株美洲杨与43株柽柳）的植物形态性状指标（如迎风面积、弯曲力与根径）；3. 同一幼苗子集的迎风面积密度。