Abstract: Typical ecological riverbanks, including mesh grid riverbank and lattice gabion ballasted vegetation-mat riverbank, together with traditional riprap riverbank were selected as study areas to explore the effects of vegetation restoration of ecological riverbank in the deep water way regulation for the Yangtze River. The terrestrial vegetation restoration and its distribution pattern in the study areas were investigated by using quantitative ecological research methods. Results revealed 19 plant species in the study areas, mainly herbs, which belonged to 19 genus and 12 families. The number of plant species in ecological riverbanks were higher than that of traditional riprap riverbank. Along the horizontal gradient of riparian, the biodiversity of mesh grid riverbank increased, and that of riprap riverbank changed randomly, while the lattice gabion ballasted vegetation-mat riverbank had relatively higher biodiversity. Moreover, the vegetation biomasses of ecological riverbanks were higher than that of traditional riprap riverbank. The biomasses of vegetation were significantly positively correlated (p＜0.01) with the NH₄-N content in the sediment. CCA analysis indicated that the distribution patterns of vegetation and species were remarkably affected by the TC and NH₄-N content. In summary, lattice gabion ballasted vegetation-mat riverbank has the optimum vegetation restoration effect, followed by mesh grid riverbank and traditional riprap riverbank in sequence. The vegetation restoration of river bank in the study area would evolve in dynamic process, and its ecological effects should be studied in-depth for a long time.

Key words: ecological riverbank, vegetation restoration, quantitative ecology, deep waterway, regulation project, Yangtze River