Vegetation interacts with hydrological and hydraulic processes. Plants adapt to water movement and can thus occur even in adverse locations. Here, they again influence water movement. This is because plants act as obstacles: current is diverted and wave energy is reduced which in turn allows for increased deposition of particles. The latter allows vegetation along the coast, for example, to increase its own location and thus keep pace with sea level rise.
These interactions between plants and water are mapped in our research group on the basis of laboratory and field studies using statistical and process-based models.