Rapid geomorphic adjustment to anthropogenic vegetation removal and meander cutoffs: Evidence from a lowland meandering river.

Human interventions, such as vegetation removal and engineering structures, can significantly alter river dynamics, often increasing erosion and flood risk. While many studies have examined the role of vegetation, flood regimes, and channel geometry in river morphodynamics, long-term, reach-scale analyses of channel response to abrupt riparian vegetation removal remain scarce. This study examines channel changes in the meandering Orljava River, Croatia, over the past 55 years, focusing on its response to floods before and after anthropogenic removal of riparian vegetation in 2011.