Riparian corridors are thought to form hydrological refugia that may buffer species and communities against regional climate changes. In regions facing a warming and drying climate, however, the hydrological regime driving riparian communities is also under threat. We examined recruitment in response to streamflow declines for species inhabiting the riparian zone in southwest Western Australia, testing the extent to which the riparian system has buffered riparian communities from the drying climate. We stratified 49 vegetation transects across the >600 mm per annum regional rainfall gradient encompassed by the Warren River Catchment. Local hydrological conditions were estimated over two 10-year periods; 1980 to 1989, and 2001 to 2010, to quantify changes in the flood regime. Mixed effects models tested the relationship between rainfall and flooding on the proportion of immature to mature individuals of 17 species of trees and shrubs common to the riparian zones. At the low-rainfall