Abstract
Green roofs (GR) have been proposed as a possible solution for urban stressors that, integrated with other remediation and mitigation actions, can lead the way to a more sustainable society. Even when some aspects of green roof design are well established and known (i.e. depth arrangements, materials, structural components, etc.) there is a need for further development on ecological attributes. This study is a descriptive analysis of suitable plant species for their possible incorporation in green roof designs with tropical climate conditions. Green roof research has been mostly led by temperate climate countries and has neglected to address tropical areas; this study aims to move research towards this knowledge gap. The evaluation of the vegetation dynamics in these novel ecosystems was done through a case study in the renovated facilities of the International Institute of Tropical Forestry in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, which incorporated a set of green roofs in their infrastructure. We also sampled an older green roof built in the Social Sciences Faculty at the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras. A three-dimensional approach, the Point-Intercept Method, was taken in the vegetation surveys to capture as much as possible the green infrastructure of the roofs. Most of the originally planted species did not appear in these surveys. On the contrary, mainly new species dominated the areas. Along with the findings of these surveys and those in other tropical countries, a list of suitable species for green roofs in Puerto Rico is suggested, and some general recommendations are made for the better management of green roofs in tropical zones.
Highlights
Rapid economic growth of countries and the accelerated urban increase, along with multiple problems associated with urban sites, like air, water, and soil quality deterioration, vegetation loss, different source contamination hotspots, among others, have created the necessity for the implementation of new solutions to the challenges of urban living (Berardi et al, 2014)
What some experts suggest is to build taking in consideration functional diversity (FD), in the belief that greater biodiversity would translate into ecosystem stability (Van Mechelen et al, 2015)
The case study of tropical green roof vegetation dynamics was completed at the renovated facilities of the International Institute of Tropical Forestry on the campus of the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico
Summary
Rapid economic growth of countries and the accelerated urban increase, along with multiple problems associated with urban sites, like air, water, and soil quality deterioration, vegetation loss, different source contamination hotspots, among others, have created the necessity for the implementation of new solutions to the challenges of urban living (Berardi et al, 2014). Authors highlight that a careful selection of the pool of species would translate in an increase in stability, outcomes, durability and resilience of the ecosystem (Berardi et al, 2014; Van Mechelen et al, 2015; Van Mechelen et al, 2015). Another important aspect is soil depth, in most of the cases the substrate is made of a mixture of different proportions of compost with: crushed bricks, expanded clay, and/or clay-loam soil; in addition the mixture may contain animal manure and green wastes such as plant pruning and debris to increase nutrients availability (Ondon~o et al, 2015). The soil depth is relevant for multiple reasons: the type of plants it can support, the amount of insulation it can provide to the building in terms of external heat, sound isolation, water filtration, among many other aspects (Stovin et al, 2015; Gargari et al, 2016)
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