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Abstract
Actively meandering rivers advance into mature floodplain vegetation, resulting in the continual creation and destruction of cutbank edges across a floodplain with successive channel advancements. To examine specific changes in vegetation initiated by the lateral migration of a river channel, we quantify the structure and composition of woody trees and shrubs along a cutbank forest edge in an Iowa floodplain. When compared to floodplain interior sites, edge sites are more diverse and exhibit higher stem and sapling densities. These patterns are similar to contrasts between edge and interior sites observed in previous studies of upland habitats. Total basal area, however, is statistically equivalent in floodplain edge and interior sites, in contrast to results from studies of stable upland edges. Variability among all measures is greater along the riparian edge. We attribute the relatively small basal area and high variability to disequilibrium conditions caused by cutbank erosional processes along the riparian edge. Meander extension prevents sites from approaching the stable conditions found for mature, maintained, agricultural-forest edge sites. [Key words: edge; floodplain; forest; riparian; cutbank erosion; meander extension; Cedar River, Iowa.]