Environmental flows are increasingly being used to restore degraded floodplain vegetation; however, the type of flow regime required for recovery to healthy condition can vary depending on the extent of degradation before restoration. Regulation of the River Murray has affected floodplain ecosystems at many locations, including Bottle Bend Reserve, in south-western New South Wales, Australia. Within Bottle Bend Reserve, tangled lignum (Duma florulenta) dominates sections of the higher floodplain elevations. Lignum is an important and widely distributed Australian shrub occurring in arid and semiarid river systems within the Murray–Darling and Lake Eyre Basins. In an effort to restore floodplain vegetation, three environmental flows were delivered to Bottle Bend Reserve between 2013 and 2016. Flows varied in magnitude, leading to a mosaic of different regimes across the area. Condition surveys were undertaken over 1 year, namely, before, during and after delivery of the September 2016 environmental flow. This study found that the greatest response occurred in lignum plants with no recent environmental water, although lignum plants with one or two recent environmental flows still responded relative to the control. Lignum was in a better condition at sites that received more environmental flows, demonstrating the value of increased frequency of flows in recovering vegetation health.

环境流量正越来越多地用于恢复退化的洪泛区植被；但是，恢复到健康状态所需的流动方式类型可能会有所不同，具体取决于恢复之前降解的程度。墨累河的管制影响了许多地区的洪泛区生态系统，包括澳大利亚新南威尔士州西南部的瓶弯保护区。在Bottle Bend Reserve中，缠结的木香（Duma florulenta）占据了较高洪泛区高程的部分。木质素是一种重要的且分布广泛的澳大利亚灌木，发生在默里-达令和艾尔湖盆地内的干旱和半干旱河系中。为了恢复洪泛区的植被，2013年至2016年之间向瓶弯保护区提供了三种环境水流。水流的大小各不相同，导致整个地区的状况各不相同。进行了为期一年的状态调查，即在2016年9月环境流量交付之前，之中和之后。这项研究发现，尽管近期有一到两种环境水流的木本植物相对于对照仍然有响应，但没有最近的环境水的木本植物发生了最大的反应。在环境流量增加的地方，木质素的状况更好，