This communication puts together the most significant outcomes achieved by the authors’ research group concerning the prediction of the riparian succession dynamics facing different flow regimes. The research topics include large and local scale drivers of riparian vegetation development, riparian vegetation adjustments to river regulation, environmental flow regime requirements for riparian vegetation and implications of riparian community state to the aquatic biota.

On a large environmental driver scale, results show that riparian vegetation succession is primarily driven by different disturbance processes according to the watershed alimentation form. Furthermore, climate change is expected to affect riparian vegetation in different ways according to the local climate.

On a habitat scale, the influence of the flow regime change can also be expected. The location and patch shape drivers of riparian succession were studied showing that patch location and shape appear to be influenced differently by the flow regime. While the distance to mean water table elevation appears to drive the location of patch succession phases, the patch shape presents a more complex network of intervening drivers. Nevertheless, the ecological degradation of riparian vegetation downstream of dams can be attenuated through flow regime management, particularly by means of flushing flows.

Overall, it was shown that riparian vegetation maintenance requires adequate environmental flow regimes. As the maintenance of such vegetation will preserve the aquatic habitat and therefore sustain, on the long-term, the habitat premises that underpin the aquatic habitat, it is fundamental that future environmental flow regimes will consider the presented research    achievements.