Sedum groundcover variably enhances performance and phenolic concentrations of perennial culinary herbs in an urban edible green roof

Ahmed, Selena; Buckley, Sarabeth; Stratton, Anne Elise; Asefaha, Feven; Butler, C.; Reynolds, Matthew J.; Orians, Colin M.

doi:10.1080/21683565.2017.1279703

Cited by 8 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Air from the fans could either dry out the soil or physically impact the plant (Onoda & Anten, 2011). Rooftop gardens can be relatively dry given the hotter temperatures experienced on rooftops, impacting soil moisture (Ahmed et al 2017). Weight restrictions on buildings also limit soil depth and therefore how much water can be stored.…”

Section: Co2 Application System Design and Implementation Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Curved aluminum structures (Figure 1) were attached around the base of the vent to direct the vent air towards the plants. This avoided drying out the planting media, a common issue in rooftop gardens (Ahmed et al, 2017), by aiming the vent air above the media. Soil moisture was measured in each milk crate twice a week using a hand held Soil Moisture Meter (Vegetronix,).…”

Section: Rooftop Co2 Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rooftop gardens and farms can mitigate the UHI effect by decreasing local temperatures (ArrowStreet, 2016;Ismail et al, 2012;Ito et al, 2015;Kleerekoper et al, 2012;Santamouris, 2014), increasing storm water retention and precipitation release through evapotranspiration, which decreases flooding (Carter & Rasmussen, 2007;He et al, 2016;Nagase & Dunnett, 2012;Nitsch, 2016;Shafique et al, 2018;Whittinghill et al, 2015), providing air pollutant filtration (Rowe, 2011), and decreasing building energy use through increased insulation (Garrison et al, 2012;Toudeshki et al, 2013;Wong et al, 2003) and natural cooling (Batchelor et al, 2009;Garrison et al, 2012;. Rooftops also offer economic and community building opportunities, aesthetic and mental health benefits (Guite, Clark, & Ackrill, 2006;Johnson, Malecki, Peppard, & Beyer, 2018), and food security when used for urban agriculture (Ahmed et al, 2017;Oberndorfer et al, 2007;Orsini et al, 2014). Urban food production would decrease dependency on external communities and increase the redundancy and resiliency of our agricultural system while addressing climate change by helping with climate enhanced negative urban environmental impacts and harvesting CO2 (Davies et al, 2011;Ismail et al, 2012;Oberndorfer et al, 2007;Orsini et al, 2014;Rowe, 2011;Shafique et al, 2020;Whittinghill et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this paper, we propose a concept for a system that could enhance growth in rooftop gardens and farms. A major challenge facing rooftop gardens is decreased plant growth due to extreme environmental conditions such as higher wind and temperatures, heightened solar radiation, and limited soil moisture content (Ahmed et al, 2017). To help ameliorate these challenges, our system uses air from inside buildings to create more favorable conditions and enhance plant growth with CO2 generated from human breath inside buildings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Repurposing CO2 from Human Respiration Inside Buildings to Enhance Growth in Rooftop Gardens

Buckley

Sparks

Marsching

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Cities face many environmental challenges while providing opportunities for integrating human infrastructure with the surrounding environment. One effort to improve environmental conditions in cities is to increase the amount of green space in creative ways within city limits. Here we propose a unique system taking carbon dioxide (CO2) from indoor spaces and applying it to rooftop gardens or farms through existing ventilation systems with the elevated CO2 levels leading to a fertilization effect that increases plant growth. CO2 measurements were taken inside multiple classrooms as well as at the exhaust vents on a rooftop and air from exhaust was applied to crops and biomass and leaf number were measured. High concentrations of CO2 ([CO2]) persisted inside university classrooms as well as at rooftop exhaust vents in correlation with expected human occupancy and stayed around 1070 ± 70 and 830 parts per million (ppm) CO2 reaching a max of 4470 and 1300 ppm CO2 respectively. Growth in Spinacia oleraceae L. (spinach) grown next to exhaust air increased 4-fold in comparison to plants grown next to a control fan applying atmospheric air. High wind speed decreased growth by approximately 2-fold. Zea mays (corn), a C4 plant, grown next to exhaust experienced a 2 to 3-fold increase, indicating alternative environmental factors additionally playing a part in growth enhancement. Enhancing growth in rooftop gardens using indoor air, could help rooftop plants grow larger and survive harsh conditions. This would make rooftop gardens more viable and better able to provide environmental services and connect urban areas to the surrounding environment.

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Section: Co2 Application System Design and Implementation Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Rooftop Co2 Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Repurposing CO2 from Human Respiration Inside Buildings to Enhance Growth in Rooftop Gardens

Buckley

Sparks

Marsching

et al. 2021

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Rooftop gardens and farms can mitigate the urban heat island effect by decreasing local temperatures (Ismail et al, 2012;Kleerekoper et al, 2012;Santamouris, 2014;Coutts et al, 2015;ArrowStreet Architecture Design., 2016), increasing storm water retention and precipitation release through evapotranspiration, which decreases flooding (Carter and Rasmussen, 2007;Nagase and Dunnett, 2012;Whittinghill et al, 2015;He et al, 2016;Nitsch Engineering, 2016;Shafique et al, 2018a), providing air pollutant filtration (Rowe, 2011), and decreasing building energy use through increased insulation (Wong et al, 2003;Garrison et al, 2012;Saadatian et al, 2013) and natural cooling (Batchelor et al, 2009;Garrison et al, 2012;Saadatian et al, 2013). Rooftops also offer economic and community building opportunities, aesthetic and mental health benefits (Guite et al, 2006;Johnson et al, 2018), and food security when used for urban agriculture (Oberndorfer et al, 2007;Orsini et al, 2014;Ahmed et al, 2017). Urban food production would decrease dependency on external communities and carbon intensive agricultural systems, increase the redundancy and resiliency of our agricultural system, and address climate change by helping with climate enhanced negative urban environmental impacts and harvesting CO 2 (Oberndorfer et al, 2007;Davies et al, 2011;Rowe, 2011;Ismail et al, 2012;Orsini et al, 2014;Whittinghill et al, 2014;Shafique et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing crop growth in rooftop farms by repurposing CO2 from human respiration inside buildings

Buckley

Sparks²,

Cowdery³

et al. 2022

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Integrating cities with the surrounding environment by incorporating green spaces in creative ways would help counter climate change. We propose a rooftop farm system called BIG GRO where air enriched with carbon dioxide (CO2) produced through respiration from indoor spaces is applied through existing ventilation systems to produce a fertilization effect and increased plant growth. CO2 measurements were taken inside 20 classrooms and at two exhaust vents on a rooftop at Boston University in Boston, MA. Exhausted air was directed toward spinach and corn and plant biomass and leaf number were analyzed. High concentrations of CO2 persisted inside classrooms and at rooftop exhaust vents in correlation with expected human occupancy. CO2 levels averaged 1,070 and 830 parts per million (ppm), reaching a maximum of 4,470 and 1,300 ppm CO2 indoors and at exhaust vents, respectively. The biomass of spinach grown next to exhaust air increased fourfold compared to plants grown next to a control fan applying atmospheric air. High wind speed from fans decreased growth by approximately twofold. The biomass of corn, a C4 plant, experienced a two to threefold increase, indicating that alternative environmental factors, such as temperature, likely contribute to growth enhancement. Enhancing growth in rooftop farms using indoor air would help increase yield and help crops survive harsh conditions, which would make their installation in cities more feasible.

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Stress‐gradient framework for green roofs: Applications for urban agriculture and other ecosystem services

Rolhauser

MacIvor

Roberto

et al. 2023

Ecol Sol and Evidence

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Green roofs are promoted to contribute to more resilient cities by enhancing urban ecosystem services and food systems. Extensive, low‐maintenance green roofs experience frequent environmental stresses, which reduce plant survival and growth. Stress‐tolerant plants are therefore used to sustain well‐established services, such as building temperature regulation. However, transitioning extensive green roofs to provide other key urban services, such as food production, involves less tolerant plant species. Although facilitation exerted by stress‐tolerant species (nurses) has been proposed to improve the performance of stress‐intolerant species (protégés) in extensive green roofs, the conditions under which facilitation could occur are not well understood. Therefore, a comprehensive framework is needed that integrates current knowledge on how the performance of protégé species is affected by nurse plants across stress conditions. We present a framework for green roof research that results in a linear model that integrates (i) modern trait–environment theory and (ii) facilitation ecology in a refined stress‐gradient hypothesis (SGH) originally developed following study of other stressful environments. The model makes testable predictions on how phenotypic traits mediate the performance response of protégé species to nurse plants along stress gradients in extensive green roofs. This is not only useful for the analysis of eco‐physiological performance measures directly linked with multifunctionality and ecosystem services, but also demographic or ‘vital’ rates that drive species persistence and plant community maintenance. We discuss a range of applications related to key agricultural and ecological questions arising from contemporary extensive green roof research, such as enhancing conditions for crop production, weed management, plant invasions and biodiversity conservation. We also provide guidelines for the generation of appropriate data and for fitting this model using readily available statistical procedures. Our framework will allow researchers to assess under which environmental conditions nurse–protégé interactions are feasible. We expect the findings from such research to help develop strategies and guidelines for managing environmental conditions that optimize protégé performances that ultimately affect the delivery of ecosystem services in constructed urban green spaces.

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Sedum groundcover variably enhances performance and phenolic concentrations of perennial culinary herbs in an urban edible green roof

Cited by 8 publications

References 35 publications

Repurposing CO2 from Human Respiration Inside Buildings to Enhance Growth in Rooftop Gardens

Repurposing CO2 from Human Respiration Inside Buildings to Enhance Growth in Rooftop Gardens

Enhancing crop growth in rooftop farms by repurposing CO2 from human respiration inside buildings

Stress‐gradient framework for green roofs: Applications for urban agriculture and other ecosystem services

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