ABSTRACT
During the last decade, the riparian zones have received considerable attention in order to restore and manage them since they have an important role to plan water resources and land, among other functions in the ecosystem. The riparian zones are mainly located in the floodplain where the soil is characterized to be alluvial. However, arid zones channels and their floodplain are transitory and subject to frequent and rapid changes [12, 13], thus there is not a clear distinction from where the channel finishes and the floodplain starts. This condition could be disadvantageous to the vegetation settled in the floodplain, which is subject to the floods’ force, the wood debris and eroded sediments carried by. Conversely, this vegetation has the advantage to receive organic matter from the debris and minerals from the eroded soil resulting in a straightforward species capable to survive at adversely conditions [6]. The adaptation of this vegetation generates species drought and flood resistant. In the first case, plants develop long roots in order to access groundwater and be wet. In the second case, plants can afford inundation since the modification of the hydraulic roughness reduces the flood velocity and spread seeds increasing the moisture and nutrients availability in the area [6].
