Application of erosion-resistant fibers in the recovery of vegetation on steep slopes in the Loess Plateau of China

Zhao, Xingkai; Li, Zeng-Yao; Robeson, Michael D.; Hu, Jia; Zhu, Qing

doi:10.1016/j.catena.2017.09.021

Cited by 13 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…On the Loess Plateau, a dryland region in China, the low soil water content is considered the main factor limiting revegetation (Zhu et al, ), and revegetation is most difficult on the south‐facing slopes. The topsoil water content or the available topsoil water is closely related to the revegetation success on steep slopes, and these slopes require the use of specific artificial revegetation methods (Zhao, Li, Robeson, Hu, & Zhu, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revegetation using the deep planting of container seedlings to overcome the limitations associated with topsoil desiccation on exposed steep earthy road slopes in the semiarid loess region of China

Zhao

Zhu³

et al. 2018

Land Degrad Dev

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Exposed, steep earthy road slopes (ESERs) in the semiarid loess region of China are prone to soil erosion and are difficult to revegetate. Topsoil desiccation (TSD) leads to land degradation, which limits the revegetation success. In this study, TSD was assessed on southfacing ESERs (with slopes of 45-55°, 55-65°, 65-75°, and >75°), and a revegetation method using the deep planting of container seedlings of 3 species (both native and introduced species) was designed to overcome the problems associated with TSD. Plant growth was evaluated by measuring plant height and diameter of the stem base after 4 growing seasons. The following results were obtained: (a) TSD occurs on south-facing ESERs and persists after the rainy season. The thickness of the TSD layer remained at approximately 15 cm (<20 cm for all studied slope grades) on the slopes with a formation time of approximately 3 years as of the beginning of this study, and the thickness increased to 35-40 cm on the control slope after 4 years of the study. (b) Using the deep planting of container seedlings method, plant roots can completely penetrate the TSD layer. The selected native species (Caragana korshinskii Kom. and Tamarix chinensis Lour.)and introduced species (Caryopteris clandonensis 'Worcester Gold') all survived; among them, T. chinensis Lour. exhibited the best growth and the best adaptation to changes in slope grade. The applied method can also effectively inhibit further increases in TSD and can be used in semiarid loess regions and similar areas.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revegetation using the deep planting of container seedlings to overcome the limitations associated with topsoil desiccation on exposed steep earthy road slopes in the semiarid loess region of China

Zhao

Zhu³

et al. 2018

Land Degrad Dev

Self Cite

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“…Compared with western developed countries, research on slope greening technology in China began much later, starting in the 1980s. After a series of research exploration and engineering practices, it has been vigorously developed and technologies such as three-dimensional vegetation network, hydroseeding grass planting, thick matrix spraying, hybrid spraying vegetation, and grass concrete planting have been gradually formulated ( Zhao et al., 2018 ; Ma et al., 2020 ; Yan et al., 2020 ; Li et al., 2022b ). However, existing technologies still have many issues to be resolved, such as nutrient loss from the cover soil, the inability of plant roots to penetrate deep layers, and the threat of dry heat to vegetation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Active permanent greening – a new slope greening technology based on mineral solubilizing microorganisms

Wang,

Tang,

Liu

et al. 2023

Front. Plant Sci.

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IntroductionWith social and economic development and the associated large-scale exploitation of natural resources, the number of slopes has significantly increased. As slope instability can lead to serious geological disasters, the ecological protection and reconstruction of slopes has become a hot topic of common global concern.MethodsIn order to achieve scientific slope management and overcome the difficulty of maintaining slope greening in the long term, this study explored eight strategies (A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, ABC, CK), involving different patented mineral solubilizing microorganisms (MSMs), and analyzed the field application of active permanent greening (APG) based on MSMs.ResultsThe results revealed that MSMs significantly increased the content of effective metal ions and available nutrients in soil and enhanced soil enzyme activity. Among all strategies, strategy A showed significant superiority, with soil effective calcium, magnesium, potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter contents increasing by 51.62%, 55.41%, 30.42%, 39.77%, 181.69% and 76.92%, respectively, while urease, sucrase and peroxidase activities increased by 89.59%, 74.68% and 85.30%. MSMs strongly promoted the growth of Amorpha. Strategy A showed the best performance, with plant seedling height, ground diameter, leaf area, root length, and root volume increasing by 95.75%, 47.78%, 124.14%, 108.83%, and 139. 86%, respectively. According to a comprehensive evaluation using the entropy-analysis hierarchy process, strategy A has great potential for application. The field test results verified that APG has significantly better greening performance than the traditional greening method, with high vegetation cover and stable soil layer.DiscussionThe results of this study provide a reliable practical basis and technical reference for the development, promotion, and application of APG.

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“…However, it has been reported that the young plants for slope protection, such as cynodondactylon and zoysiagrass, would stop growing and be fatal to the cold weather, especially when it encounters continuous snow in the winter [19,20]. However, to date, little attention has been paid to the functionality of ecological substrate in protecting the plant growth in extremely cold weather, in contrast to the studies on the vegetative properties of ecological substrate [21,22].Therefore, the current work aims to propose a new type of ecological substrate with the capability of promoting the plants' growth in extremely cold winter. Expanded polystyrene (EPS), cement, carbon fiber, graphite, and raw soil are considered as the main components of the ecological substrate.…”

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confidence: 99%

Thermal Properties of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Lightweight Substrate for Ecological Slope Protection

Huang

Xiao

et al. 2019

Energies

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A new ecological substrate is proposed to achieve a desired electric conduction and heating to protect the slope plants from freeze injury. Expanded polystyrene (EPS), cement, carbon fiber, graphite, and raw soil are the main components of the ecological substrate. The electrical conductivity, heating efficiency, thermo-sensitivity, and heat preservation of the substrate are experimentally investigated. The result shows that the addition of carbon fiber could significantly decrease resistivity of substrate, but the effect of fiber content exceeding 3% on the resistivity of substrate becomes insignificant. Conductive fine materials (i.e., carbon fiber and graphite powder) covering the surface of EPS would result in a significant reduction of the global resistivity of non-dry substrate, but it could only slightly affect the counterpart of the completely dry substrates. The substrate could hardly be formed when the EPS content exceeds 4%. As EPS content increases, the contact surface decreases and the resistivity of the substrate increases. The peak temperature at 30 min of substrate without root is higher than that of substrate with plant roots. Nevertheless, the temperature alteration ratio below 40 • C of substrate with plant root is nearly the same as its counterpart in the substrate without roots. The resistance of the substrate with plant roots increases with the temperature. The resistance of rootless substrate decreases by the heat action of the loosely bound water. EPS particles improve the heat preservation performance of substrate, but the heat preservation performance of substrate degrades with the growth of plants.roots grow, it would provide anchoring into bedrock or stable soil layers, which would be further favorable for the slope stability [12][13][14].Due to the high production efficiency, soil-spraying technology, which was first developed by Japanese scholars [15], has been widely used in vegetation engineering for slope restoration. Nevertheless, it was reported that it is difficult to facilitate vegetation on the steep slopes [16]. To address this issue, various researchers [17] attempted to spray the ecological substrates on the slope surface for the slope restoration. The ingredients of the ecological substrate are usually composed of fibers, loam, cement, and a pH-adjusting agent, etc. literature [18] indicated that the ecological substrate can greatly promote the plants' growth, thereby effectively restoring the slope. However, it has been reported that the young plants for slope protection, such as cynodondactylon and zoysiagrass, would stop growing and be fatal to the cold weather, especially when it encounters continuous snow in the winter [19,20]. However, to date, little attention has been paid to the functionality of ecological substrate in protecting the plant growth in extremely cold weather, in contrast to the studies on the vegetative properties of ecological substrate [21,22].Therefore, the current work aims to propose a new type of ecological substrate with the capability of pro...

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Application of erosion-resistant fibers in the recovery of vegetation on steep slopes in the Loess Plateau of China

Cited by 13 publications

References 25 publications

Revegetation using the deep planting of container seedlings to overcome the limitations associated with topsoil desiccation on exposed steep earthy road slopes in the semiarid loess region of China

Revegetation using the deep planting of container seedlings to overcome the limitations associated with topsoil desiccation on exposed steep earthy road slopes in the semiarid loess region of China

Active permanent greening – a new slope greening technology based on mineral solubilizing microorganisms

Thermal Properties of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Lightweight Substrate for Ecological Slope Protection

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