ABSTRACT
Aquatic vegetation occurring in natural rivers has signiŸcant e§ects on hydrodynamic characteristics such as the velocity distributions, turbulence and coherent structures, as well as mass and momentum exchanges between the vegetated and nonvegetated zones. Aquatic vegetation canopies are responsible for water quality, nutrient and particulate removal, and can reduce turbidity and sediment transport signiŸcantly. Vegetation canopies in rivers and wetlands have recently been recognized to be of essential importance not only for water management but also for the river environment, and it is therefore necessary to investigate turbulence structures and their essential e§ects on scalar transport and the aquatic ecosystem, For example, see Poggi et al. (2004), Ghisalberti and Nepf (2006) and Nezu and Sanjou (2008).
