IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v12y2023i6p1239-d1172651.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Response of Spontaneous Plant Communities to Sedum mexicanum Cover and Water Availability in Green Roof Microcosms

Author

Listed:
  • Dean Schrieke

    (School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia)

  • Nicholas S. G. Williams

    (School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia)

  • Claire Farrell

    (School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia)

Abstract

Lack of maintenance can lead to ‘weedy’ spontaneous vegetation on green roofs. Aspects of green roof design, including substrate depth and roof height, have been shown to influence the composition of spontaneous vegetation. In drier climates, Sedum species are often planted on shallow substrate ‘extensive’ green roofs and irrigated during summer to maintain cover. However, the response of spontaneous vegetation to Sedum cover and water availability is unclear. Understanding this relationship could help minimise maintenance and maintain Sedum vegetation cover. We hypothesised that increasing Sedum ( Sedum mexicanum ) cover and reduced water availability would reduce the abundance, biomass, species and functional richness, and the community weighted mean specific leaf area (SLA; CWM by abundance) of spontaneous plant communities. We conducted a 10-month experiment in green roof microcosms planted with S. mexicanum (0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% total cover), subjected to a well-watered or water-deficit irrigation treatment, and sown with a mix of 14 plant species that commonly occur as spontaneous on green roofs. We measured spontaneous species abundance, community biomass, and functional traits (specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, and relative growth rate), and calculated species and functional richness. Increasing S. mexicanum cover reduced spontaneous species abundance and species and functional richness but did not affect community biomass. Species richness was affected by the interaction of S. mexicanum cover and watering treatment and was greatest in well-watered microcosms with 0% S. mexicanum cover. Increased water availability increased spontaneous plant biomass but did not affect functional richness. The SLA of spontaneous communities was affected by the interaction of S. mexicanum cover and watering and was significantly greater in well-watered treatments where S. mexicanum cover was <100%. Therefore, maximising Sedum cover and limiting water availability on green roofs will likely limit the abundance, biomass, and diversity of spontaneous vegetation. Conversely, for green roofs where substrate is left to be naturally colonised, increasing water availability could encourage establishment and increase functional richness of spontaneous vegetation.

Suggested Citation

  • Dean Schrieke & Nicholas S. G. Williams & Claire Farrell, 2023. "Response of Spontaneous Plant Communities to Sedum mexicanum Cover and Water Availability in Green Roof Microcosms," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-16, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:6:p:1239-:d:1172651
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/6/1239/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/6/1239/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrea Pianella & Lu Aye & Zhengdong Chen & Nicholas S. G. Williams, 2017. "Substrate Depth, Vegetation and Irrigation Affect Green Roof Thermal Performance in a Mediterranean Type Climate," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-19, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brunetti, Giuseppe & Porti, Michele & Piro, Patrizia, 2018. "Multi-level numerical and statistical analysis of the hygrothermal behavior of a non-vegetated green roof in a mediterranean climate," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 204-219.
    2. Daniel Mora-Melià & Carlos S. López-Aburto & Pablo Ballesteros-Pérez & Pedro Muñoz-Velasco, 2018. "Viability of Green Roofs as a Flood Mitigation Element in the Central Region of Chile," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-19, April.
    3. Vera, Sergio & Pinto, Camilo & Tabares-Velasco, Paulo Cesar & Bustamante, Waldo, 2018. "A critical review of heat and mass transfer in vegetative roof models used in building energy and urban enviroment simulation tools," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 752-764.
    4. Fabiana Frota de Albuquerque Landi & Claudia Fabiani & Anna Laura Pisello, 2021. "Experimental Winter Monitoring of a Light-Weight Green Roof Assembly for Building Retrofit," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-20, April.
    5. Alkistis E. Kanteraki & Grigorios L. Kyriakopoulos & Miltiadis Zamparas & Vasilis C. Kapsalis & Sofoklis S. Makridis & Giouli Mihalakakou, 2020. "Investigating Thermal Performance of Residential Buildings in Marmari Region, South Evia, Greece," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-22, February.
    6. Dominik Gößner & Milena Mohri & Justine Jasmin Krespach, 2021. "Evapotranspiration Measurements and Assessment of Driving Factors: A Comparison of Different Green Roof Systems during Summer in Germany," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-22, December.
    7. Patryk Antoszewski & Dariusz Świerk & Michał Krzyżaniak, 2020. "Statistical Review of Quality Parameters of Blue-Green Infrastructure Elements Important in Mitigating the Effect of the Urban Heat Island in the Temperate Climate (C) Zone," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-36, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:6:p:1239-:d:1172651. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.