Root properties of vegetation communities and their impact on the erosion resistance of river dikes

Vannoppen, Wouter; Poesen, Jean; Peeters, P.; Baets, Sarah De; Vandevoorde, Bart

doi:10.1002/esp.3970

Cited by 54 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…After uprooting, plant material was recovered and RLD (km m −3 ) recorded. RLD is a root trait frequently used to estimate the erosion-reducing potential of plant species and select the most suitable species for controlling soil erosion processes [42][43][44][45] . To determine RLD, the soil and root complex was washed thoroughly over a 0.7 mm sieve before manually separating the roots from the soil.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Micro-scale interactions between Arabidopsis root hairs and soil particles influence soil erosion

et al. 2020

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Soil is essential for sustaining life on land. Plant roots play a crucial role in stabilising soil and minimising erosion, although these mechanisms are still not completely understood. Consequently, identifying and breeding for plant traits to enhance erosion resistance is challenging. Root hair mutants in Arabidopsis thaliana were studied using three different quantitative methods to isolate their effect on root-soil cohesion. We present compelling evidence that micro-scale interactions of root hairs with surrounding soil increase soil cohesion and reduce erosion. Arabidopsis seedlings with root hairs were more difficult to detach from soil, compost and sterile gel media than those with hairless roots, and it was 10-times harder to erode soil from roots with than without hairs. We also developed a model that can consistently predict the impact root hairs make to soil erosion resistance. Our study thus provides new insight into the mechanisms by which roots maintain soil stability.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Micro-scale interactions between Arabidopsis root hairs and soil particles influence soil erosion

et al. 2020

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“…Considering concentrated flow erosion, root density (RD), whether or not in combination with root diameter (D), and root length density (RLD) are the most frequently used root traits to estimate the erosion-reducing potential of plant species and to select the most suitable plant species for controlling soil erosion processes (e.g. De Baets et al, 2009;Pohl et al, 2009;Burylo et al, 2012;Vannoppen et al, 2016). The relationship between the erosion-reducing potential and root density or root length density is most often described by a negatively exponential relationship (Eq.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Poesen et al, 2003;Imwangana et al, 2015;Vanmaercke et al, 2016), 2) the destruction of sandy levees causing flood risk (e.g. Vannoppen et al, 2016) and 3) the destruction of earth-banks along roads or at construction sites (e.g. Jägerbrand and Alatalo, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How do root and soil characteristics affect the erosion-reducing potential of plant species?

Vannoppen

Baets

Keeble

et al. 2017

Ecological Engineering

127

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Plant roots can be very effective in stabilizing the soil against concentrated flow erosion. So far, most research on the erosion-reducing potential of plant roots was conducted on loamy soils. However susceptible to incisive erosion processes, at present, no research exists on the effectiveness of plant roots in reducing concentrated flow erosion rates in sandy soils. Therefore, the prime objective of this study was to assess the erosion-reducing potential of both fibrous and tap roots in sandy soils. Furthermore, we investigated potential effects of root diameter, soil texture and dry soil bulk density on the erosion-reducing potential of plant roots. Therefore, flume experiments conducted on sandy soils (this study) were compared with those on sandy loam and silt loam soils (using the same experimental set up). Results showed that plant roots were very efficient in reducing concentrated flow erosion rates in sandy soils compared to root-free bare soils. Furthermore, our results confirmed that fibrous roots were more effective compared to (thick) tap roots. Dry soil bulk density and soil texture also played a significant role. As they were both related to soil cohesion, the results of this study suggested that the effectiveness of plant roots in controlling concentrated flow erosion rates depended on the apparent soil cohesion. The nature of this soil type effect depended on the root-system type: fine root systems were most effective in non-cohesive soils while tap root systems were most effective in cohesive soils. For soils permeated with a given amount of fibrous roots, an increase of soil bulk density seemed to hamper the effectiveness of roots to

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“…Voor de bermen langs de Leie tussen Sint-Baafs-Vijve en Deinze vormen een gras-kruidenmix of bloemrijk grasland de doelgraslandvegetaties (Arcadis, 2017), zeker gezien de erosiebestendigheid (Vannoppen et al, 2016) Mogelijke oorzaken voor het ontbreken van typische soorten van het glanshavergrasland kunnen zijn:  het ontbreken van levensvatbare zaden in de zaadbank,  het ontbreken van gunstige kiemomstandigheden,  de afwezigheid van relictpopulaties in de omgeving of  dispersiemoeilijkheden door een sterk versnipperde omgeving.…”

Section: Discussieunclassified

Ecologische inventarisatie langs de Leie tussen Sint-Baafs-Vijve en Deinze in functie van het project Seine-Schelde

Kerckvoorde¹,

Vermeersch²,

Everaert³

2020

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Root properties of vegetation communities and their impact on the erosion resistance of river dikes

Cited by 54 publications

References 62 publications

Micro-scale interactions between Arabidopsis root hairs and soil particles influence soil erosion

Micro-scale interactions between Arabidopsis root hairs and soil particles influence soil erosion

How do root and soil characteristics affect the erosion-reducing potential of plant species?

Ecologische inventarisatie langs de Leie tussen Sint-Baafs-Vijve en Deinze in functie van het project Seine-Schelde

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