**1. Introduction**

Bamboo is a globally distributed group of plants with more than 1400 species distributed worldwide in tropical, equatorial and semitropical biomes.

It builds important and diversified habitats with different specificities, according to the nature of the species and the general ecological conditions.

Most bamboo species show a very strong development and colonization ability, determining that in some temperate habitats, they can assume an invasive character.

The nature and characteristics of some bamboo communities can present an important ability to soil and slope protection and stabilization, as one can easily confirm by observing developed bamboo forests in mountainous areas with very steep slopes.

materials, nowadays, presents a strong evolution with the development of new materials and plant/material combinations, building techniques and innovative domains of application. This domain of engineering combines classical areas of civil engineering (e.g. structures, materials, construction, geological engineering) with biology, integrating a wide diversity of disciplines and specialization domains. The aim is to achieve feasible, efficient durable, self-repairing, resilient, evolving and ecological functional engineering structures that, within strict technical and geotechnical limits, normally fulfil their planed functions with higher efficiency and lower cost [2]. The European Federation for Soil Bioengineering (EFIB) defines soil and water bioengineer-

The Use of Bamboo for Erosion Control and Slope Stabilization: Soil Bioengineering Works

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.75626

107

*'Typically, plants and parts of plants are used as living building materials, in such a way that, through their development in combination with soil and rock, they ensure a significant contribution to the longterm protection against all forms of erosion. In the initial phase, they often have to be combined with non-living building materials, which may, in some cases, ensure more or less temporarily, most of the* 

*The use of organic materials is preferred, because parallel to the development of the vegetation and its increasing stabilization ability, these materials will rot and be reincorporated in the natural biogeochemical cycles. Also preferred are indigenous (autochthonous) and site-specific plants, as they promote a biodiversity suited to the landscape. The planning and construction objectives are the protection and stabilization of land uses and infrastructures as well as the development of landscape elements'* [3].

Soil bioengineering aims, therefore, at ensuring an efficient nature-based solution to the protection of infrastructures. This can be helpful in situations of conflict between opposite needs: the human demand for larger spaces for activities and infrastructures and the natural systems

Soil bioengineering systems use plants and parts of plants as living building materials as well as introducing and developing functional living communities that are able (*per se* or complemented by a wide variety of materials and structures) to effectively ensure the desired soil and slope protection and consolidation targets. Its goal, as referred therewith, is mainly functional in terms of protecting and integrating within the infrastructure, as well as landscape protection and restoration. Its particular characteristic is the fact that the result of its application is not an inert structure, but a dynamic, resilient living community able to restore itself after disturbances and, if adequately maintained, to ensure a long-term, non-decaying,

Due to the nature, characteristics and properties of vegetation, it is important to note that bioengineering strategies also have limitations in terms of their effectiveness and application limits. The first one is that only a limited available number of plants from a given habitat have the necessary technical characteristics constraining the potential use of the aimed technical solutions. Secondly, plants, as living organisms, do not behave in a standardized way, limiting the ability to precisely calculate the technical effectiveness of the interventions. Finally, plants have limited ability in terms of root growth, hindering their capacity to stabilize soils to depths larger than 1.5–2 m, depending on the species. It is also important to note that there is a lack of a systematized knowledge on the physical behaviour of plants and particularly of their roots and root systems, when exposed to external forces, despite the promising results

ing as:

*supporting functions.*

intrinsic need for development space.

of an ever-growing research effort.

effective intervention with permanently developing efficiency.

On the other hand, the structural characteristics offered by some woody bamboo species make bamboo a valuable basic construction material in many regions (e.g. India, China and Southeast Asia).

These characteristics determine that these species and communities can be of high interest for soil and slope protection and reinforcement works, particularly in areas where the bamboo is native. They can be used integrated and fostering natural communities, ensuring efficient soil cover and reinforcement functions through their high, lightly dense culms and their dense and resilient root systems.

These functions are also of particular interest for soil bioengineering because bamboo has biological characteristics such as a high vegetative propagation ability (making its reproduction very easy) and a rapid growth (allowing for a quick effect on soil cover and root consolidation). Moreover, the structural and physical characteristics of the stems of certain bamboo species turn them into a very effective construction material for complementary soil bioengineering support structures.

Therefore, bamboo in its different forms and associated communities, and also in terms of particular species, is of high interest for nature and biodiversity protection (and therefore ecosystem restoration) as well as for slope protection and stabilization.
