How Do Plants Prevent Soil Erosion?

The two main factors in soil erosion are wind and water. The quantity of soil they can transfer away is influenced by two connected aspects:
One is speed; the faster either moves, the more soil erosion will occur. Second is plant cover; plants safeguard the soil and if absent, wind and water can do great damage.
Plants offer a defence against soil erosion for the subsequent reasons:
1. Plants can stop raindrops making it to the soil, thus preventing its capacity to wear away the soil
2. The roots of plants hold the soil in place and thwarts attempts to wash it away
3. Runoff can be particularly damaging (water flowing over land) and plants can act as brakes which allows the rain to soak more easily into the ground
Of course soil erosion is a natural process but it can become a major issue if it is caused by mankind, sometimes to devastating effect.
Intensive farming practises, forest fires, deforestation and over grazing all contribute to the loss of vegetation. This makes the soil vulnerable to being swept away by wind and water. Intensive farming practises also causes the soil to break up and lose its structure and makes it more easily eroded.
The nutrient rich top soil is inevitably the first part of soil to be eroded and once this is gone, very few plants will grow or can be cultivated in this soil. This will lead to desertification and it is nigh-on impossible to restore this land.
Good plants to prevent soil erosion are; Ferns, Pennsylvancia Sedge and Hellebores, depending of course on the environment to which they will be planted.

The roots of plants hold in the soil. When forces try to erode the soil, the roots keep the soil in and do not let it wash away. It takes a much longer time for the soil to erode when there are plants. The deeper and stronger the roots are, the less soil an get eroded.

Stop cutting down so many of our trees and return the farm land back to just that instead of building homes that people can not afford and are losing to foreclosure, prevent over fertilizing, there is a lot that can be done but the government is out to make money for themselves and the constituents have to fend for themselves...the best to you

Soil erosion can be prevented by controlling overgrazing,controlling deforestation,prevent dumping of waste,controlling excessive use of fertilisers etc.

The roots of forest trees hold back soil.

Spread mulch on bare ground to help prevent erosion and runoff. Test your soil before applying fertilizers. Over- fertilization is a common problem.

This does not help me with pictures of roots slowing down soil erosion