The rapid development of transportation and urbanization has promoted the continuous innovation of slope ecological restoration technology (SERT). More environmentally friendly and efficient technologies are being developed and perfected to make the restored slopes sustainable and be able to integrate into the natural environment, in which microbial-plant remediation technology was been taken into account. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), a microbial material commonly used in ecological restoration, has a symbiotic relationship with the majority of terrestrial plants to provide water and nutrients, and has been successfully used in the field of ecological restoration in recent years. Combining stress tolerance and growth promotion for plants with improvement of soils properties through strengthened associations with AMF would help to increase the efficiency of slope ecological restoration. This review mainly introduces AMF research progress in terms of plant stress tolerance, ecological optimization, and symbiosis with plant species for phytoremediation, summarizes the current challenges faced in the application of AMF in ecological restoration projects, and highlights the future research direction for resolving the mentioned problems. Finally, theoretical study and field applications are combined to provide an overview of the future application prospects in slope ecological restoration.

The goal of this research is to investigate strategies to increase the erosion resistance of the slope surface during the early stages of vegetation concrete construction, as well as to offer a scientific foundation for improving vegetation concrete formulation. Simulated rainfall experiments were carried out at 2 different slope gradients (50° and 60°), 2 different rainfall intensities (60 and 120 mm·h⁻¹), and 4 treatments (CK-no additive, 0.4% P-polyacrylamide, 4% C-biochar, and 0.4% F-palm fiber). PAM, palm fiber, and biochar significantly reduced the initial runoff time of the vegetation concrete slope by an average of 47.03%, 46.41%, and 22.67%, respectively (p < 0.05). The runoff rate of each slope under different conditions increased with the expansion of rainfall duration and then fluctuated and stabilized, whereas the erosion rate decreased and then fluctuated and stabilized. PAM and palm fiber both increased runoff rates while decreasing erosion rates, but biochar increased both runoff rates and erosion rates. The runoff reduction benefits of PAM, palm fiber, and biochar were −69.84~−1.97%, −68.82~−14.28% and −63.70~−6.80%, respectively, while the sediment reduction benefits were 69.21~94.07%, −96.81~−50.35%, and 36.20~60.47%, respectively. PAM and palm fiber both have obvious sediment reduction benefits and can be used in the ecological restoration of high and steep slopes in areas with heavy rainfall.

The construction of roads along rivers plays a crucial role in the construction of economic belts and social and economic development along rivers. Roadbeds are the foundation of highway construction, while the soft soil foundation is widely distributed on both sides of rivers, resulting in some difficulties for roadbed construction and highway use. Despite diverse technical methods for the treatment of general roadbeds, the treatment of soft soil roadbeds should be further explored. In this paper, various advantages of applying CFG (Cement Fly-ash Gravels) pile treatment to the soft foundation in Bailinhe Road, Yichang are investigated. Specifically, the soft soil roadbed treated by CFG pile is numerically simulated, the changes in engineering index response before and after foundation treatment are analyzed, and then the dynamic analysis under vehicle dynamic load is performed. The results demonstrate that the reinforcement effect of the CFG pile significantly weakens the influence of vehicle dynamic load on roadbeds.