Riparian

Vegetation that grows on the rivers banks or bodies of water located in the border zone between land and water (ecotones). It consists of special populations because of the presence of water during periods of varying length (willow, alder, ash-tree at the edge, maple and elm at higher height, pedunculate oak, hornbeam on the top of the river banks). We distinguish: afforestation of river banks - stream-side trees (usually managed under river maintenance programmes) located close to the minor bed, from the alluvial forest that extends more broadly in the floodplain. The nature of the riparian vegetation is closely related to surface and subsurface flows. It acts upon the geometry of the bed, on river bank stability, water quality, aquatic life, plant and animal biodiversity.