The fourth volume of Urban Habitats, guest edited by Janet Marinelli, focuses on green roofs and biodiversity, with six pioneering papers that discuss green roofs in Switzerland, Berlin, and London. The findings of the papers contribute to an expanding body of evidence suggesting that green roofs can provide living space for plants and mobile animals like invertebrates and birds. According to Dr. Steven Clemants, vice president of Science at BBG, "Issue four of Urban Habitats is dedicated to the study of the biodiversity that can be found in a green roof environment. The researchers who have contributed papers are making important strides in understanding the ways in which green roofs can play an important role in plant and animal conservation. By providing a unique living environment for biologically diverse plant and animal species in a town or city, green roofs attract species who otherwise may not have a proper habitat in that area. I hope the studies included in this issue of Urban Habitats encourage the further investigation of green roofs in our community."
Key findings featured in this issue of Urban Habitats include:
* "Inner Cities Welcome Diverse Flora"
Manfred Köhler, studying green roofs contructed in the 1980s, concludes that a relatively diverse flora is possible on extensive green roofs in inner cities as well as rural areas. He also suggests that plant diversity can be even higher if varied microclimates, especially sunny and shady areas, are created, initial plantings are enhanced, and a minimal amount of irrigation and maintenance is provided.
* "Endangered Birds Find Fresh Food and a Place to Nest"
Nathalie Baumann presents preliminary data from a long-term study of green roofs as potential bird habitat in Switzerland. Her research suggests that green roofs may be able to provide not only food habitat but also breeding habitat for ground-nesting birds such as the endangered little ringed plover and northern lapwing.
* "Green Roofs Provide Refuge for Rare Insects"
In her research, investigator Gyongyver Kadas is finding a high abundance of invertebrates (including spiders, beetles, and ants) on green roofs and customized "brown roofs" in London. At least 10 percent of the species collected at her study sites are designated as nationally rare or scarce.
* "Let Nature Be the Model for Green Roof Design"
Jeremy Lundholm suggests that green roof designers should look to natural analogs of manmade environments, especially rock outcrop habitats such as cliffs, scree slopes, and limestone pavements. These rare habitats include suites of species adapted to shallow substrates and extreme temperature and moisture conditions-the same characteristics of extensive green roofs.
This issue of Urban Habitats also includes a paper from Virgil Brack Jr. on the unusual behavior exhibited by the short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda) in urban environments, as well as a study from Carsten W. Glaeser on the floristic composition and community structure of the Forest Park Woodland, located in Queens, New York.
Urban Habitats is a peer-reviewed, fully-indexed scientific journal, written and edited for a wide audience of researchers, restoration ecologists, park and preserve managers, government officials, and naturalists. The journal is is coedited by Dr. Steven Clemants; Dr. Gerry Moore; Elizabeth Peters, director of Publications at Brooklyn Botanic Garden; and Niall Dunne, editor in the Publications Department at Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Papers cover a range of related subject areas, including urban botany, conservation biology, wildlife, and vegetation management in urban areas, urban ecology, restoration of Urban Habitats, landscape ecology and urban design, urban soils, bioplanning in metropolitan regions, and the natural history of cities around the world. -- www.bbg.org
Posted February 5th, 2007 by ruzik_tuzik
