How do river dynamics and human influences affect the landscape pattern of fluvial corridors? Lessons from the Magra River, Central–Northern Italy

•Fluvial landscape dynamic along the Magra River is mainly driven by local factors.•Landscape diversity is higher where human impact has been the greatest.•Landscape diversity is a complex attribute difficult to use as an indicator.•Landscape diversity should be considered with other ecological attributes (e.g. conservation status).

Along the Magra River (Central–Northern Italy), human control at the local-scale appears to be the main driving factor of morphological changes observed since WWII. Our results, based on aerial photographs analysis and field survey, indicate that the reduction in channel width observed between the 1950s and the 1980s is probably due to local factors rather than to basin-scale factors. With regard to riparian landscape pattern, evolution from a braided pattern to a wandering/meandering pattern increases landscape diversity but some differences exist between reaches because of the different morphological trajectory and human impact. Moreover, this landscape diversity seems poorly linked to landform age, as we had expected. Evolution from a bar-braided pattern to a single-thread system generates some paradoxes from a conservation perspective: disappearance of a braided pattern but riparian woodland expansion and landscape diversity increase. This research suggests that landscape diversity is a complex attribute that should be considered with other attributes such as the specificity of habitats.