Abstract: Ecological slope protection technique is critical for mitigating riverbank erosion and protecting water quality in river ecosystems. Taking the ecological river demonstration project in Yingtung Village of Chongming Island as a case, this paper explored the practice and ecological effect of ecological slope protection technique with the aim of slope stabilization and ecological restoration. Our self-invented ecological slope protection technique was applied to the engineering practice, and a continuous ecological monitoring was conducted. After two years of the engineering practice, the mean riverbank shear strength at the sampling points at the middle of the river (A2) and at the entrance bridge of 〖JP2〗the Village (A4) was 620 and 63.5 kPa, respectively, far higher than that (37 kPa) at the original protection slope A1. The obvious increase of soil shear strength made the riverbank erosion mitigated sharply, and the riverbank structural stability enhanced. The water quality was improved due to plant purification. Along the flow direction, the total nitrogen content declined from 2.95 to 1.08 mg·L-1, with a decrement of 63.4%, and the ammonium content declined from 2.64 to 1.02 mg·L-1, with a decrement of 61.4%. In the meantime, the habitats of the riparian zone were under self-improvement, and the stability of the eco-riverbanks enhanced due to the high species diversity and multiple plant community structure.

Key words: hilly area, corn straw, compost, fertilizer effect.