Is there any bio techniques for the other then erosion?
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The use of plants for protection against soil erosion and stabilization of slopes has a long tradition. Ancient methods with rocks and plants, structures of wood have been used during the last centuries. Recently, these ancient techniques of soil conservation and stabilization have been rediscovered and improved. Biotechnology engineering methods have become part of geotechnical and hydraulic engineering and have helped bridge the gap between the classical disciplines of engineering, land use management, landscape architecture and life sciences. This review presents the different uses of the plants in the design of hydraulic and geotechnical engineering. The core of this review is an overview of the most important biotechnological construction methods used for protection against soil erosion and slope stabilization. Methods, construction procedures and the main advantages and disadvantages of these biotechnological methods are discussed. Considerations on construction and maintenance costs conclude in this review.
Biotechnology engineering techniques rely on biological knowledge to build geotechnical and hydraulic structures and to secure slopes and unstable banks. Whole plants or parts thereof are used as building materials to insure unstable sites in combination with other (dead) building materials. Therefore, biotechnology engineering does not replace traditional hydraulic and geotechnical engineering (eg geotextiles or concrete blocks), but complements and improves other technical engineering methods. The next section discusses the main types of biological methods that use woody or wet land plants or their parts. Coverage methods such as sowing, hydroseeding (Georgi, Belstou, Stathakopoulos, 2001), or herbaceous rhizome plantings, as well as supplementary methods will not be treated with it (see Schwab 1991). Biotechnological methods using willows and other woody plants are especially appropriate for improving existing technical structures. This article focuses on the construction of biotechnological structures and their use. The main advantages and disadvantages of each method are summarized.