The aim of this thesis work is to investigate on the variety of the most common modeling approaches used to describe vegetation dynamics in river systems and to propose improvements to some of their key aspects. According to a large body of literatures the multitude of external factors that influences vegetation evolution – both positively and negatively - makes it difficult to construct a complete and realistic mathematical model. For this reason, most studies focus only on the most significant factors, such as groundwater level, which has been widely shown to strongly affect vegetation behavior. A significant portion of the thesis is dedicated to a critical review of some of the most well-known vegetation modeling approaches.