Manipulating plant phylogenetic diversity for green roof ecosystem service delivery

Abstract

Plant species and functional trait diversity have each been shown to improve green roof services. Species and trait differences that contribute to ecosystem services are the product of past evolutionary change and phylogenetic diversity (PD), which quantifies the relatedness among species within a community. In this study, we present an experimental framework to assess the contribution of plant community PD for green roof ecosystem service delivery, and data from one season that support our hypotheses that PD would be positively correlated with two services: building cooling and rainwater management. Using 28 plant species in 12 families, we created six community combinations with different levels of PD. Each of these communities was replicated at eight green roofs along an elevation gradient, as well as a ground level control. We found that the minimum and mean roof temperature decreased with increasing PD in the plant community. Increasing PD also led to an increase in the volume of rainwater captured, but not the proportion of water lost via evapotranspiration 48 hr following the rain event. Our findings suggest that considering these evolutionary relationships could improve functioning of green infrastructure and we recommend that understanding how to make PD (and other measures of diversity) serviceable for plant selection by practitioners will improve the effectiveness of design and ecosystem service delivery. Lastly, since no two green roof sites are the same and can vary tremendously in microclimate conditions, our study illustrates the importance of including multiple independent sites in studies of green roof performance.

Low precipitation due to climate change consistently reduces multifunctionality of urban grasslands in mesocosms

“…We also measured soil respiration as it correlates to C exchange and represents the largest component of ecosystem respiration [42]. Finally, water retention and water loss through evapotranspiration (ET) were measured using a watering and weighing protocol adopted from studies on green roofs [43,44], and used as a proxy for rainwater regulation functions of urban grasslands in shallow road verges. For ideal stormwater regulation and transpirational cooling support, urban grasslands need to use high amounts of water when available after a rain event, and persist during periods of water scarcity [43,45].…”

Invasion theory as a management tool for increasing native biodiversity in urban ecosystems

“…However, many of the Sedum species used are native to Europe and non-indigenous to many countries where they are widely deployed. Increasing the native composition or functional diversity on green roofs can enhance functioning (Lundholm, 2015;MacIvor et al, 2018) and potentially benefit native pollinators (MacIvor et al, 2015), and furthermore, green roofs can be inhabited by a large number of native plants (Madre et al, 2014). Microbial communities are likely to be impacted by green roof environmental conditions opening the door for additions of bacteria and fungi (Fulthorpe et al, 2018).…”

Use of Phytomeliorant Plants for Waste Water Purification

“…Economic growth leads to an increase in suspended solids, organic compounds, phosphates, nitrates and other substances in water [Li, 2018]. Many types of anthropogenic activities contribute to the formation of secondary waste products, the formation of new types of xenobiotics [MacIvor, 2018]. The industrialization and intensification of the development of the agro-industrial complex in many countries led to the saturation of water resources with biogenic elements, which as a result caused the eutrophication of reservoirs, which later led to either waterlogging or salinization of the reservoir.…”