Evaluation of the stability of vegetated slopes according to layout and temporal changes

Vegetation in slopes can effectively improve slope stability.However,it is difficult to estimate the effects of vegetation on slope stability because of variations in plant species and environmental conditions.Moreover,influences of plant growth on slope stability change with time,resulting in changes in the safety factor.This study was conducted to evaluate the stability of vegetated slopes with time and investigate the effects of different layouts of plant species on slope stability.Here,we used a plant growth model and slope stability analysis to build an evaluation model.To accomplish this,one species of tree,shrub and grass was chosen to set six layout patterns.A slope with no vegetation served as a control.The safety factors of the seven slopes were then calculated using the developed evaluation model and differences in the safety factors of slopes were compared and discussed.The slope vegetated with Platycladus orientalis reached the most stable state at the age of 60 years.Shrub slope(Vitex negundo)had the maximum safety factor after 20 years.Overall,the safety factor of vegetated slopes increased from 12.1%to 49.6% compared to the slope with no vegetation.When wind force was considered,the safety factor value of the slope changed from 3.5%to 43.5%.Vegetation mixtures of trees and grasses resulted in the best slope stability.Planting grasses on slopes can improve slope stability of trees to a greater degree than that of slopes with shrubs in the early stage of growth.

Simulation and Visualisation of Functional Landscapes:Effects of the Water Resource Competition Between Plants

Vegetation ecosystem simulation and visualisation are challenging topics involving multidisciplinary aspects. In this paper, we present a new generic frame for the simulation of natural phenomena through manageable and interacting models. It focuses on the functional growth of large vegetal ecosystems, showing coherence for scales ranging from the individual plant to communities and with a particular attention to the effects of water resource competition between plants. The proposed approach is based on a model of plant growth in interaction with the environmental conditions. These are deduced from the climatic data （light, temperature, rainfall） and a model of soil hydrological budget. A set of layers is used to store the water resources and to build the interfaces between the environmental data and landscape components： temperature, rain, light, altitude, lakes, plant positions, biomass, cycles, etc. At the plant level, the simulation is performed for each individual by a structural-functional growth model, interacting with the plant＇s environment. Temperature is spatialised, changing according to altitude, and thus locally controls plant growth speed. The competition for water is based on a soil hydrological model taking into account rainfalls, water runoff, absorption, diffusion, percolation in soil. So far, the incoming light radiation is not studied in detail and is supposed constant. However, competition for light between plants is directly taken into account in the plant growth model. In our implementation, we propose a simple architecture for such a simulator and a simulation scheme to synchronise the water resource updating （on a temporal basis） and the plant growth cycles （determined by the sum of daily temperatures）. The visualisation techniques are based on sets of layers, allowing both morphological and functional landscape views and providing interesting tools for ecosystem management. The implementation of the proposed frame leads to encouraging results that are presented and illustrate simple academic cases.

Leaf shape simulation of castor bean and its application in nondestructive leaf area estimation

The leaf shape and leaf area measurement are crucial in plant growth modeling.The castor bean leaf is large,palm-shaped with multiple clefts.The leaf shape simulation and leaf area estimation were less studied.The circular model and nonrectangular hyperbolic model were developed to describe the standard leaf shape of castor bean in this study,providing a model for simulating the leaf shape and a nondestructive way for estimating the leaf area respectively.In addition,a formula was established to estimate the leaf area by the parameter of the standard leaf shape of castor bean.Based on validation results,the circular model fits the landmarks and nonrectangular hyperbolic model fits the lobe margins very well.The leaf area was accurately estimated by using the established formula.This study could provide a theoretical reference for leaf visualization,a nondestructive and easy way to estimate the leaf area for other complex leaves with multiple lobes.