| Abstract: | The use of living plants for mechanical-technical purposes (stabilization by plants) in the field of design and construction in the sense of biological engineering – a field of application of ecological engineering – concerns a complex system in which factors of soil mechanics and hydraulics are combined with the ecosystem. In comparison with solid-technical construction methods, considerable advantages result due to a lower expenditure for maintenance and a high stability, especially during floods. Findings having been gained so far concerning the stabilization of the bank toe by underwater plants and flooding forms of species of reeds communities, the stabilization in the range of the mean water level and above it by bushes and shrubs – in cases of long-time submerging by species of the reeds and swamps of large sedge (Phragmites) and of the wet meadows (Molinietalia) are critically evaluated, with the inclusion of new own findings from plantings in a newly developed section of the Branitz inland ditch (initial plantings in water and at the lower part of the bank) which have been observed for some years and from reed plantings covering large areas in the pond region of Peitz (Cottbus county, south-eastern part of the GDR). |
