Green Roof Ecosystems provides an up-to-date coverage of green (vegetated) roof research, design, and management from an ecosystem perspective. It reviews, explains, and poses questions about monitoring, substrate, living components and the abiotic, biotic and cultural aspects connecting green roofs to the fields of community, landscape and urban ecology. The work contains examples of green roof venues that demonstrate the focus, level of detail, and techniques needed to understand the structure, function, and impact of these novel ecosystems. Representing a seminal compilation of research and technical knowledge about green roof ecology and how functional attributes can be enhanced, it delves to explore the next wave of evolution in green technology and defines potential paths for technological advancement and research.
1. Introduction to Green Roof Ecosystems
2. Monitoring Abiotic Inputs and Outputs
3.Climates and Microclimates: Challenges for Extensive
4. Green Roof Design for Hot Climates
5. Water through Green Roofs
6. Nutrient Cycling in Green Roof Ecosystems
7. Soil-based Green Roofs
8. Bacteria and Fungi in Green Roof Ecosystems
9. Plant Biodiversity on Green Roofs
10. Effects of Vegetation on Green Roof
11. Ecosystem Services
12. Ruderal Green Roofs
13. Assembling Prairie Biome Plants for Minnesota
14. Green Roofs
15. Green Roof Plant Assemblage and Dynamics
16. Long-term Rooftop Plant Communities
17. Invertebrates on Green Roofs
18. Placing Green Roofs in Time and Space: Scale, Recruitment, Establishment, and Regeneration
19. Eco-regional Green Roof Case Studies
20. Green Roof Ecosystems: Summary and Synthesis
Richard K. Sutton is a Professor in the Department of Agriculture and Agronomy at The University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His areas of focus include ornamental horticulture, landscape ecology, and the design program in landscape architecture.