I will not be able to attend, but for what it's worth, I performed an
ecosystem restoration on the roof of a house on the Pacific coast several
years ago (1990's?). it is entirely self-sufficient, requiring no irrigation
or maintenance. It can be seen from the Coast Highway in Laguna Beach at
(33.511087,-117.752849 --Google street view works here); however, please do
not disturb the occupants.
WT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Leon Blaustein" <l...@research.haifa.ac.il>
To: <ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2013 1:33 PM
Subject: [ECOLOG-L] ESA special session: Incorporating Ecology into Green
Roof Research
Greetings Ecolog-l Colleagues,
We are organizing a special session on the topic "incorporating ecology into
green roofs research" briefly described below. If you are going to ESA this
summer in Minneapolis, and this topic interests you, I encourage you to
attend this session. If you are interested in making a short presentation
at this special session, please suggest a title with a short description to
me in the coming days (an initial deadline is 4 Feb). The "one first
authored presentation only" ESA rule does not apply; that is, you can
potentially present here in addition to any other talk you plan to give. We
are supposed to learn the exact date of the session on 14 February.
Best wishes,
Leon
Title: Incorporating Ecology into Green Roof Research
Description: Green roofs, which use natural or artificial substrates to
allow plants to grow on rooftops, mitigate many anthropogenic environmental
impacts of urban development. For example, green roofs mitigate flooding
during heavy rains, insulate buildings resulting in reduced energy
expenditure for heating and cooling, and in the realm of ‘reconciliation
ecology’, they provide habitat for flora and fauna where nature has been
largely removed. Until now, as verified by a bibliometric survey we
conducted and confirmed by our own surveying of potential contributors of
this session, ecological and biodiversity aspects of green roofs have
received far less attention. Yet, ecological theory and empirical work has
much to offer in guiding research directions for creating biodiverse system
of roofs. Such theory and empirical work come from island biogeography,
invasion ecology, and landscape ecology. Likewise, green roof research
provides excellent opportunities to test and develop ecological theory. This
forum will be a mix of several invited short talks and discussion. Some
topics will include integration of photo-voltaic cells and green roofs for
both better electric production and greater plant and animal diversity, the
role of plant diversity and plant species identify on roofs affecting
community structure and in resisting colonization of invasive plants, and
landscape approaches to understand the integration of heterogeneity at
several spatial scales. We hope that such a session in the form of largely a
“think tank”, will foster new ideas and new opportunities for collaborative
research on green roof ecology.
Summary: Green roof research has been largely advanced by architects, urban
planners and engineers. Ecological input into creating green roof systems to
mitigate lost biodiversity on urban lands is lagging. We will explore the
use ecological principles to guide future green roofs research and
opportunities to develop and test ecological theories.
Leon Blaustein
Director, Kadas Green Roofs Ecology Center
Head, Community Ecology Laboratory
Institute of Evolution and Department of Evolutionary & Environmental
Biology
Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905 Israel
Tel. 972-4-8240736 (office); 972-4-9998881 (home)
Cell: 052-555-1081; Institute Fax: 972-4-8246554
http://leonblaustein.wikidot.com
http://evolution.haifa.ac.il/index.php/research/research-centers/kadas-green-roofs-ecology
Chief Editor, Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution
http://israelsciencejournals.com/eco.htm
e-mail: ijee...@research.haifa.ac.il
"He [Rabin] knew that those who starve peace, feed extremism."
-Shimon Peres speaking at Rabin commemoration 7 Nov 09
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