An overview of plant species and substrate materials or green roof system in tropical climate urban environment

Author(s):  
M. F. Chow ◽  
M. F. Abu Bakar ◽  
J. K. Wong
2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 149-155
Author(s):  
Har'el Agra ◽  
Hadar Shalom ◽  
Omar Bawab ◽  
Gyongyver J. Kadas ◽  
Leon Blaustein

Abstract Green roofs are expected to contribute to higher biodiversity in urban surroundings. Typically, green roofs have been designed with low plant diversity. However, plant diversity can be enhanced by controlling resource availability and creating distinct niches. Here we hypothesize that by using different drainage heights during the short plant-growing season in a semi-arid green roof system we can create distinct niches and plant communities. Our experiment took place at the University of Haifa, north Israel. We tested three different heights of drainage outlet: 10 cm under the surface of the substrate (Low), 1 cm under the surface of the substrate (Medium) and 3 cm above the surface of the substrate (High) on plant species-composition in green-roof gardens. Grasses cover was higher in High and Medium drainages while forbs cover was higher in Low drainage. Species richness was the highest in Low drainage while diversity indices showed the opposite trend. We conclude that by changing the height of the drainage we can create different niches and change species composition in a short time period of one growing season. This way we can create more diverse green roof communities and enhance biodiversity in urban areas, particularly in semi-arid regions.


2011 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-196
Author(s):  
ERIK JONES ◽  
THERESA MILLER ◽  
JEREMY MONSMA ◽  
JILLIAN PUSZYKOWSKI ◽  
JOANNE WESTPHAL

ABSTRACT This paper describes plant species composition and coverage changes that occurred on an extensive (shallow) green roof system exposed to direct solar exposure and steep roof conditions over time. The green roof system, installed in August, 2005, involved a pre-seeded, manufactured mat product that initially was vegetated with twelve plant species. During the interim between installation and data collection for this paper, no maintenance, fertilizer, or irrigation was applied, despite the fact that observable differences in plant coverage were noted. In April, 2009, undergraduate student researchers revisited the green roof system and examined the green roof for species composition and absolute plant cover. These data were compared to a control area where solar incidence and slope were comparable to the conditions found on a flat roof system. This paper reports on the findings of this study, and offers insight to the types of modifications in extensive green roof technology that may be necessary if extensive green roof application is to be useful for steep roof conditions in cold climate environments.


2013 ◽  
Vol 312 ◽  
pp. 853-856
Author(s):  
Yang Wang ◽  
Yan Chen

For the deteriorating urban ecological environment, the green roofs, as an important component of the urban landscape, play a positive and important role on constructing harmonious and natural urban environment. This article is focused on the analyses of the technical characteristics of green roof system and its structure, and also on the demonstration of the important effects of green roofs in areas such as energy-saving, emission reduction and eco-environment.


2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 73-84
Author(s):  
D. C. Toland ◽  
C. P. West ◽  
M. E. Boyer

Plant selection and establishment are critical components for green roof health and success. Plant palettes (sets of plant species selected for specific conditions) for green roofs vary in their ability to confer benefits depending on the species make-up and their adaptation to particular environments and climates. The response of various species to climatic factors on rooftops is unknown for the Ozark Highlands region. The objective of this study was to compare plant survival and spread in three growing medium treatments (course and fine texture with compost and fine texture with no compost) installed as part of a green roof system. The study was performed on a green roof system at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville over 3 years. Data were collected on 13 species installed in September of 2006 and surveyed on three dates thereafter: April 30, 2007; May 19, 2009; September 10, 2009. The treatments with added compost had statistically greater vegetated cover (from 73 to 87%) compared to the fine medium without compost (36 to 43%). In most cases the spread of individual plants was not significantly different between treatments. Results indicated that rooting medium containing compost increased survival and overall vegetated roof coverage, and identified various potential green roof plant species for the Ozark Highland environment. Two species, Sedum middendorffianum var. diffusum and Sedum spurium ‘Roseum’, did particularly well in all treatments. One species, Sedum kamtschaticum, did well only in the treatments with compost.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-234
Author(s):  
Jessica D Lubell ◽  
Bryan Connolly ◽  
Kristina N Jones

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7115
Author(s):  
Mostafa Kazemi ◽  
Luc Courard ◽  
Julien Hubert

A green roof is composed of a substrate and drainage layers which are fixed on insulation material and roof structure. The global heat resistance (Rc) within a green roof is affected by the humidity content of the substrate layer in which the coarse recycled materials can be used. Moreover, the utilization of recycled coarse aggregates such as incinerated municipal solid waste aggregate (IMSWA) for the drainage layer would be a promising solution, increasing the recycling of secondary resources and saving natural resources. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the heat transfer across green roof systems with a drainage layer of IMSWA and a substrate layer including recycled tiles and bricks in wet and dry states according to ISO-conversion method. Based on the results, water easily flows through the IMSWAs with a size of 7 mm. Meanwhile, the Rc-value of the green roof system with the dry substrate (1.26 m2 K/W) was 1.7 times more than that of the green roof system with the unsaturated substrate (0.735 m2 K/W). This means that the presence of air-spaces in the dry substrate provided more heat resistance, positively contributing to heat transfer decrease, which is also dependent on the drainage effect of IMSWA. In addition, the Rc-value of the dry substrate layer was about twice that of IMSWA as the drainage layer. No significant difference was observed between the Rc-values of the unsaturated substrate layer and the IMSWA layer.


2021 ◽  
pp. 100059
Author(s):  
Lijiao Liu ◽  
Junjun Cao ◽  
Mehran Ali ◽  
Jiaxin Zhang ◽  
Zhaolong Wang

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 2357-2369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yann Dusza ◽  
Sébastien Barot ◽  
Yvan Kraepiel ◽  
Jean-Christophe Lata ◽  
Luc Abbadie ◽  
...  

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