The development of alternate bars in channelized rivers can be explained theoretically as an instability of the riverbed when the active channel width to depth ratio exceeds a threshold. However, the development of a vegetation cover on the alternate bars of some channelized rivers and its interactions with bar morphology have not been investigated in detail. Our study focused on the co‐evolution of alternate bars and vegetation along a 33 km reach of the Isère River, France. We analysed historical information to investigate the development of alternate bars and their colonization by vegetation within a straightened, embanked river subject to flow regulation, sediment mining, and vegetation management. Over an 80 year period, bar density decreased, bar length increased, and bar mobility slowed. Vegetation encroachment across bar surfaces accompanied these temporal changes and, once established, vegetation cover persisted, shifting the overall system from an unvegetated to a vegetated dynamic equilibrium state. The unvegetated morphodynamics of the impressively regular sequence of alternate bars that developed in the Isère following channelization is consistent with previous theoretical morphodynamic work. However, the apparent triggering dynamics of vegetation colonization needs to be investigated, based on complex biophysical instability processes. If instability related to vegetation colonization is confirmed, further work needs to focus on the relevance of initial conditions for this instability, and on related feedback effects such as how the morphodynamics of bare‐sediment alternate bars may have affected vegetation development and, in turn, how vegetation has created a new dynamic equilibrium state. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Serlet et al.SMART Research in River Science employment in management was higher (22%). The SMART program also increased the network of international collaborations for doctoral candidates and supervisors. Reflections on doctoral training programs like SMART contribute to debates around research training and the career opportunities of interdisciplinary scientists.

The strength and architecture of roots and other below‐ground organs of riparian and aquatic plants affect plant resistance to uprooting and contribute to reinforcing river bank, bar and bed materials. Therefore, root properties are an important element in models for estimating river bank stability and such models may focus on the role of plants by using root strength–diameter relationships for the particular plant species that are present. Here we explore the degree to which there appear to be significant differences in strength–diameter relationships between and within species‐specific data sets obtained for two riparian tree/shrub (Populus nigra, Salix alba) and two emergent aquatic macrophyte (Sparganium erectum, Phalaris arundinacea) species in different European river environments. While the analysed data sets were not specifically collected to answer these research questions, the results are sufficiently compelling to make the case for the collection of a more comprehensive data set and its rigorous analysis. This would allow recommendations to be made on the degree to which (i) species‐specific or more general relationships between root/rhizome strength and diameter are appropriate, (ii) such relationships are applicable within and between rivers in different geographical regions and subject to different local environmental conditions, and (iii) further (minimalist) field observations are needed to calibrate such relationships for investigations of new locales or species. © 2018 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.