Marketing

Habitat

Ecosystem health

Ecology

Service (business)

Biology

Vegetation (pathology)

Riparian zone

Computer science

Geology

Business

Ecosystem management

Paleontology

Structural basin

Environmental resource management

Environmental science

Fluvial

Medicine

Total human ecosystem

Ecosystem services

Ecosystem

Pathology

BioScience

Fluvial riparian vegetation (RV) links fluvial and terrestrial ecosystems. It is under significant pressure from anthropogenic activities, and, therefore, the management and restoration of RV are increasingly important worldwide. RV has been investigated from different perspectives, so knowledge on its structure and function is widely distributed. An important step forward is to convert existing knowledge into an overview easily accessible—for example, for use in decision-making and management. We aim to provide an overview of ecosystem services provided by RV by adopting a structured approach to identify the ecosystem services, describe their characteristics, and rank the importance of each service. We evaluate each service within four main riparian vegetation types adopting a global perspective to derive a broad concept. Subsequently, we introduce a guided framework for use in RV management based on our structured approach. We also identify knowledge gaps and evaluate the opportunities an ecosystem service approach offers to RV management.

Global Overview of Ecosystem Services Provided by Riparian Vegetation