Abstract
Vegetation, from an individual stem to multiple stems in various configurations, profoundly alters turbulent flows. These alterations influence sediment transport and stream morphology, but depend on complex interactions and relationships between flow, plants and sediment properties. This is illustrated for three case studies that represent a variety of macrophyte patterns and scales in the environment: flows through simulated uniformly distributed plant stems, emergent and submerged; flows with alternating simulated stem patches; and flow around an isolated stem in a flood plain. The emergent case demonstrates that when density is sparse the mean velocity and turbulence intensities vary horizontally around the stems, which would promote a heterogeneous bedform morphology. However, it is still unclear how density, submergence ratio, and flow Reynolds number, in combination, influence interference effects, vortex shedding and dissipation, and velocity, pressure and lift fluctuations that affect sediment entrainment. The submerged case demonstrates significant reduction of the mean velocity, turbulence intensities, and turbulent shear near the bed compared to an unobstructed flow and supports numerous observations that vegetation promotes deposition or stabilizes bed sediments. The case of alternating emergent vegetation patches illustrates how vegetation adjusts the bed promoting scour in open water and deposition within the patches. The isolated stem case illustrates the variety of coherent structures generated, their complex interaction, and their role in specific sediment transport phenomena observed. Additional research is required, however, to quantify thresholds and relationships for flow-vegetation-sediment interactions so that aquatic macrophyte plantings can be used more effectively in water resource management.