Moderate inundation stimulates plant community assembly in the drawdown zone of China’s Three Gorges Reservoir

Background While a dam is constructed to adjust and store water resources, it has negative impacts on biodiversity of the corresponding ecosystems. In particular, the dam regulation induces water-level fluctuations (WLFs), resulting in remarkable effects on the riparian vegetation succession of the drawdown zone ecosystem. These riparian plant responses play important roles in the biodiversity conservation. However, in-depth investigative...