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: [email protected] "He [Rabin] knew that those who starve peace, feed extremism." -Shimon Peres speaking at Rabin commemoration 7 Nov 09
