![]() ![]() Reproductive strategies and herbivory became important factors later in succession. Fluvial processes were interactive with life history processes of riparian plants in determining initial stages of primary succession. The main channel of this gravel-bed river frequently avulses and possesses an anabranching plan form. We measured plant recruitment patterns, successional dynamics, and biophysical processes on laterally expansive floodplains of the Kwethluk River, Alaska. Characteristics of rivers required to promote the predicted pattern of tree species include a single, meandering channel with point bars an intermediate level of stream energy a natural hydrological regime and location in a biome where a large number of tree species are capable of colonizing point bars. Multivariate analysis of river characteristics suggested that rivers failing to show the expected pattern were those with relatively low stream energy and geomorphic dynamics and/or those with hydrological regimes altered by upstream dams.Main conclusions A distinct pattern of streamside forest community structure is related to fluvial geomorphic processes characterizing many rivers within the south-eastern US Coastal Plain. ![]() Species occupying a given point bar location on one river usually occupied the same location on other rivers, in accordance with species-elevation associations identified in past studies of floodplain forests. ![]() To identify physical characteristics of rivers that are predictive of patterns of tree species along point bars, aerial photographs, hydrographs and field data were analysed.Results Tree species composition varied predictably among the three point bar locations, corresponding to an elevation gradient on each bar, on seven of 10 rivers. At each of 10 river bends per river, a census of trees and shrubs was taken and elevation and soil texture were measured at upstream, mid- and downstream locations along the forest–point bar margin. Also, to understand spatial patterns of tree species on land created during river-bend migration, and to interpret which physical characteristics of rivers predict this pattern of vegetation.Location The south-eastern US Coastal Plain.Methods Ten randomly selected rivers within a portion of the region were studied. Aim To determine the degree to which rivers within the south-eastern US Coastal Plain show a predictable spatial distribution of floodplain tree species along each point bar of river bends in relation to elevation and/or soil texture, as seen on the Bogue Chitto River, Louisiana, USA. ![]()
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