Impact of plant roots on the resistance of soils to erosion by water: a review
Abstract
Vegetation controls soil erosion rates significantly. The decrease of water erosion rates with increasing vegetation cover is exponential. This review reveals that the decrease in water erosion rates with increasing root mass is also exponential, according to the equation SEP e b RP where SEP is a soil erosion parameter (e.g., interrill or rill erosion rates relative to erosion rates of bare topsoils without roots), RP is a root parameter (e.g., root density or root length density) and b is a constant that indicates the effectiveness of the plant roots in reducing soil erosion rates. Whatever rooting parameter is used, for splash erosion b equals zero. For interrill erosion the average b-value is 0.1195 when root density (kg m 3) is used as root parameter, and 0.0022 when root length density (km m 3) is used. For rill erosion these average b-values are 0.5930 and 0.0460, respectively. The similarity of this equation for root effects with the equation for vegetation cover effects is striking, but it is yet impossible to determine which plant element has the highest impact in reducing soil losses, due to incomparable units. Moreover, all the studies on vegetation cover effects attribute soil loss reduction to the above-ground biomass only, whereas in reality this reduction results from the combined effects of roots and canopy cover. Based on an analysis of available data it can be concluded that for splash and interrill erosion vegetation cover is the most important vegetation parameter, whereas for rill and ephemeral gully erosion plant roots are at least as important as vegetation cover.
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Roots lower erosion considerably.
“and that roots lower erosion considerably (Gyssels et al., 2005).”
From Breeding crop plants with deep roots: their role in sustainable carbon, nutrient and water sequestration (2011) · cites this paper as Gyssels et al., 2005
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- Authors
- Gyssels, G., Poesen, J., Bochet, E., & Li, Y.
- Affiliations
- KU Leuven (BE)
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ES)
- Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CN)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2005-06
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 189-217
- ISSN
- 0309-1333 (ISSN-L)
- 1477-0296
- OpenAlex
- W2154209249
- Cited by
- 1,225
- References
- 62
- Citations by year
- 2026: 99 · 2025: 85 · 2024: 94 · 2023: 93 · 2022: 124 · 2021: 94 · 2020: 95 · 2019: 76 · 2018: 75 · 2017: 51 · 2016: 49 · 2015: 49 · 2014: 57 · 2013: 41 · 2012: 26
- FWCI
- 22.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Progress in Physical Geography Earth and Environment (publishedVersion)
- DIGITAL.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)) (submittedVersion)
- Lirias (KU Leuven) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil erosion and sediment transport
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Tree Root and Stability Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Hydrology and Sediment Transport Processes
- Keywords
- plant roots, soil erosion, water erosion, root density, root length density, vegetation cover, interrill erosion, rill erosion, splash erosion, ephemeral gully erosion, soil loss, canopy cover, aboveground biomass
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