Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) plays a critical role in aquatic systems. In lotic ecosystems, SAV provides habitat and resources to species by forming the energic base of the trophic pyramid, promoting sediment stability, and modifying hydrodynamics within the stream channel. However, the relationships between structural properties of SAV canopies (flexibility, height, blade morphologies) and their impacts on flow across different scales are not well understood. Given the foundational nature of SAV to aquatic communities, a better understanding of these relationships is necessary for improved natural resource management. Florida springs and spring-fed rivers support robust SAV canopies, making them ideal locations to study the dynamics of SAV and flow interactions. Additionally, Florida springs have seen a reduction of rooted SAV in recent years while algae have proliferated. We hypothesize that SAV canopy structural properties have a significant impact on hydrodynamics above and within SAV canopies and control algal establishment and abundance through canopy motion and blade-to-blade interactions. We tested our hypothesis by conducting multiple field campaigns and collected hydrodynamic data using in situ flow velocimeters and captured vegetation canopy movement using underwater video cameras. These field observations will be used to qualitatively validate a high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics model of SAV-fluid interactions. Preliminary results show that periodic waving motion in vegetation, known as monami, combined with certain plant structures, significantly influences the overall hydrodynamic conditions. This approach creates a novel framework for modeling flow over SAV and advance our understanding of SAV behavior under different flow conditions with different blade properties. Based on observations, we hope to better understand the effects of SAV on hydrodynamics and apply this to key ecosystem processes, such as sediment transport and algae growth dynamics.