Abstract. Increasing habitat-enhanced structures have been proposed to rehabilitate the channelized river, but the effects of these structures remained unclear. In this study, we carried out an experimental study to examine the effect of ecological low dam (ELD) on functional aspects of channelized river. The results showed that the ecological low dam can improve the decomposition rate of organic matter. Moreover, the ecological low dam can let the decomposition rate of leaves within health range. This finding was helpful for comprehensively understanding the effect of ELD on the functional aspects of river ecosystem and guild us to design ecological low dam optimally.