ABSTRACT
Riparian vegetation stabilizes sediment by its roots and henceforth impacts riparian morphodynamics. After germination or vegetative reproduction on river bars or islands, juvenile plants are exposed to a high risk of mortality due to uprooting by floods. We distinguish two main types of root erosion by flow. As Type I root erosion, we defined a flow induced drag mechanism, which causes a nearly instantaneous uprooting of mainly very young vegetation with not fully developed root system by pullout drag exceeding root resistance. Type II root erosion arises as a combination of bedform erosion resulting in a decreased anchoring resistance of the roots and subsequent Type I uprooting. This second type applies to later stages of root development and is a delayed process induced by sediment erosion of morphodynamic origin.
