Soil and water bioengineering: practice and research needs for reconciling natural hazard control and ecological restoration

Soil and water bioengineering is a technology that encourages scientists and practitioners to combine their knowledge and skills in the management of ecosystems with a common goal to maximize benefits to both man and the natural environment. It involves techniques that use plants as living building materials, for: (i) natural hazard control (e.g., soil erosion, torrential floods and landslides) and (ii) ecological restoration or nature-based re-introduction of species on degraded lands, river embankments, and disturbed environments. For a bioengineering project to be successful, engineers are required to highlight all the potential benefits and ecosystem services by documenting the technical, ecological, economic and social values. The novel approaches used by bioengineers raise questions for researchers and necessitate innovation from practitioners to design bioengineering concepts and techniques. Our objective in this paper, therefore, is to highlight the practice and research needs in soil and water bioengineering for reconciling natural hazard control and ecological restoration. Firstly, we review the definition and development of bioengineering technology, while stressing issues concerning the design, implementation, and monitoring of bioengineering actions. Secondly, we highlight the need to reconcile natural hazard control and ecological restoration by posing novel practice and research questions

Génie végétal et ingénierie végétale : des compétences et une réglementation aux bénéfices de la nature et de l’homme

National audienceLe génie végétal, ou génie biologique, désigne la mise en oeuvre des techniques utilisant les végétaux et leurs propriétés mécaniques et/ou biologiques pour le contrôle de l’érosion des sols, la restauration de milieux dégradés et la dépollution des sols et des eaux. L’ingénierie végétale désigne la conception des projets d’application du génie végétal ou génie biologique. Aujourd’hui, la filière de ces deux domaines est en plein essor, en particulier en France et en Europe. Les professionnels expriment tous leurs besoins de reconnaissance et de développement des compétences et du savoir-faire, de consolidation et d’évolution des réglementations et directives en vigueur, ainsi que d’une meilleure identification des bénéfices issus du génie végétal. Ainsi, depuis peu, les acteurs de cette filière se structurent pour mieux se connaître et mettre leurs compétences en synergie. Les spécialistes de l’ingénierie végétale et du génie végétal prônent une éthique et une réglementation renforcées pour l’exercice de leur métier. Enfin, les professionnels reconnaissent la nécessité aujourd’hui de mieux identifier les bénéfices que les milieux naturels et les populations retirent des actions par et/ou pour le vivant. Pour cela, l’accroissement des connaissances et des données scientifiques, ainsi que la formalisation de formations tant initiales que continues, peuvent avantageusement contribuer à ce développement actuel de l’ingénierie végétale et du génie végétal

Use of Deschampsia antarctica for nest building by the kelp gull in the Argentine Islands area (maritime Antarctica) and its possible role in plant dispersal

During the last 50 years, the western coast of the Antarctic Peninsula and adjacent archipelagos, also known as the maritime Antarctic, has experienced notable climate warming. As a result, expansion of the local distributions of the two native species of vascular plants, Deschampsia antarctica Desv. and Colobanthus quitensis (Kunth.) Bartl., over previously unoccupied ground has been noted. Birds have been suggested to be partially responsible for this spread. The focus of the present study was to document the use of vascular plants in nest building by the kelp gull (Larus dominicanus) in the Argentine Islands region. During the 2009/2010 season, samples from kelp gull nests were collected and analyzed. Besides nests, material lost by birds during transfer was also studied. We demonstrate that, in the Argentine Islands region, Deschampsia antarctica and some bryophytes contribute the majority of nest building material for the kelp gull. Other materials, including lichens, gull feathers, and limpet shells, are used less frequently. The plants can reestablish upon transfer via vegetative or generative means. It thus seems that the kelp gull may potentially serve as a dispersal agent for Deschampsia antarctica