Forests and Slope Stability: Root Reinforcement, Eco-Engineering, and Bioengineering Solutions

Dear Colleagues,

Slope stability plays a fundamental role in ensuring the safety and sustainability of landscapes, infrastructure, and communities in mountainous and hilly regions. In recent decades, increasing attention has been devoted to the role of vegetation as a natural and eco-friendly measure for slope stabilization. Different vegetation types, ranging from grasses and shrubs to deep-rooted trees, exert varying influences on soil strength, hydrological processes, and erosion resistance. Forest ecosystems, in particular, represent a critical component in many mountainous regions; their complex root networks, multilayered canopies, and interactions with soil and water cycles provide significant and long-term stabilization benefits. Under the pressures of climate change, forest degradation, deforestation, and land-use transitions may significantly increase slope instability, whereas afforestation and adaptive forest management offer promising strategies to mitigate landslide risks and enhance ecological resilience. Nevertheless, the mechanisms by which plant traits, community structures, and root architectures affect slope behavior remain a complex and evolving field of study.

This Special Issue, ‘Forests and Slope Stability: Root Reinforcement, Eco-Engineering, and Bioengineering Solutions’, will highlight interdisciplinary research exploring the mechanisms, models, and applications of vegetation in slope stabilization. Contributions should address the fundamental mechanisms of root reinforcement, vegetation–soil–water interactions, innovative monitoring techniques, and practical applications in ecological engineering and disaster mitigation. Submissions that introduce new theories, numerical modeling approaches, and experimental techniques are particularly encouraged. By integrating theoretical developments with field-based evidence, this Special Issue seeks to bridge the gap between ecological science and geotechnical engineering, offering insights into how vegetation selection and management—including forest conservation and restoration strategies—can be optimized for slope protection under diverse environmental conditions.

We hope that this Special Issue will stimulate further cross-disciplinary dialog, inspire new strategies for eco-based slope stabilization, and contribute to the global effort of achieving resilient and sustainable landscapes.

Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Landslides;

Slope stability evaluation;

Root architecture and plant trait influences on mechanical reinforcement;

Soil–vegetation interactions;

Slope failure mechanisms;

Influence of vegetation cover on soil erosion and landslide susceptibility;

Eco-engineering and bioengineering approaches for slope stabilization;

Hydrological impacts of vegetation on slope stability;

Modeling and numerical simulation of vegetated slopes;

Remote sensing and monitoring of vegetation on unstable slopes;

Disaster prevention strategy and management;

Climate change and disaster prevention technology;

Forest conservation, afforestation, and management strategies for disaster reduction;

Ecological geotechnical engineering;

Soil freezing and thawing;

Water loss and soil erosion.

Prof. Dr. Jiankun Huang
Prof. Dr. Beibing Dai
Prof. Dr. Wei Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• slope stability
• vegetation types
• root reinforcement
• soil-vegetation interactions
• eco-engineering
• landslide prevention
• soil bioengineering approaches
• ecological restoration