Background Ecological construction activities significantly influence regional eco-hydrological processes by modifying underlying surface conditions, thereby altering hydrological parameters such as interception, infiltration, and surface roughness. Understanding the regulatory mechanisms of eco-hydrological processes on flood hazards is critical for implementing integrated flood risk management and ecological conservation within a hillslope-channel system framework.

Methods This study analyzed the impact mechanisms of ecological construction on flood elements from an eco-hydrological perspective, synthesizes hydrological response research methodologies, including hydrological statistics, laboratory/field experiments, and model simulations, for land use/cover changes, and summarizes current knowledge on vegetation-mediated flood mitigation.

Results 1) Ecological construction accelerates changes in vegetation characteristics, soil properties, and terrain conditions, intensifying their effects on flood processes. However, vegetation-driven flood peak attenuation and flow retardation are synergistically influenced by intrinsic habitat conditions (vegetation-soil system structure) and external factors (regional climate patterns and watershed baseline characteristics). 2) Conventional research methods show distinct advantages and limitations: Hydrological statistics reveal macro-scale patterns but lack process resolution, experimental approaches quantify single-factor impacts yet suffer from scale constraints, while model simulations enable systematic analysis but face challenges in parameter heterogeneity characterization. 3) Existing studies predominantly focus on watershed-scale land use patterns, with limited exploration of hillslope ecosystem resilience enhancement through vegetation-soil structural-functional optimization. Quantitative evaluation frameworks for ecological flood regulation capacity and disaster risk impacts remain underdeveloped.

Conclusions Future research should prioritize three directions: i) advancing mechanistic understanding of vegetation-soil interactions under extreme hydrological events; ii) establishing hillslope resilience assessment systems to quantify structural-functional thresholds for flood regulation; and iii) developing multiscale quantitative methods to evaluate ecological regulation capacities and disaster risks, thereby providing theoretical and technical foundations for watershed-scale ecological flood control systems.