Modelling of nutrient dynamics and vegetation succession in midstream sediment bars of a regulated river

In the floodplain of a regulated river with an intermittent flood disturbance, nutrient dynamics is mainly dependent on the successional stage of vegetation, types of flora and initial substrate conditions brought about by a previous large flood. In this study, we collected data on plant and substrate parameters from a gravelly bar of a regulated river in Japan and developed nutrient dynamic and vegetative succession models on the basis of allometric relationships between observed data. The models were validated with field observed data from the Ara and Kurobe Rivers of Japan. We obtained satisfactory agreements between observed and simulated results. The developed models can predict the progressive vegetative biomass and amount of nutrients processed by herbaceous plants and trees on a sediment bar during large flood intervals.