Drought-avoiding plants with low water use can achieve high rainfall retention without jeopardising survival on green roofs

Abstract

Green roofs are increasingly being used among the suite of tools designed to reduce the volume of surface water runoff generated by cities. Plants provide the primary mechanism for restoring the rainfall retention capacity of green roofs, but selecting plants with high water use is likely to increase drought stress. Using empirically-derived plant physiological parameters, we used a water balance model to assess the trade-off between rainfall retention and plant drought stress under a 30-year climate scenario. We compared high and low water users with either drought avoidance or drought tolerance strategies. Green roofs with low water-using, drought-avoiding species achieved high rainfall retention (66–81%) without experiencing significant drought stress. Roofs planted with other strategies showed high retention (72–90%), but they also experienced >50days of drought stress per year. However, not all species with the same strategy behaved similarly, therefore selecting plants based on water use and drought strategy alone does not guarantee survival in shallow substrates where drought stress can develop quickly. Despite this, it is more likely that green roofs will achieve high rainfall retention with minimal supplementary irrigation if planted with low water users with drought avoidance strategies.