Habitat Effect on Urban Roof Vegetation

• Main Authors: Emrah Yalcinalp, Selva Ozveren, Alperen Meral, Muberra Pulatkan, Sefa Akbulut
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2017-10-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: green roof; roof vegetation; habitat effect; Trabzon city
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/11/1985

Urban growth has been fast for decades. Because money is very important in this urban-based world, humanity focuses on economic development, and is often too busy to deal with sustainability. Therefore, in a world that is constantly changing, creating sustainable cities that contain a diverse range of habitats supporting plant establishment is essential. Some surprising urban habitats in which plants can grow, such as cracks on pavements and walls, rocky areas, abandoned places and roofs might be extremely important for sustainability, while urban spaces are under artificial pressure. In this study, which suggesting a method to create more sustainable green roofs for urban areas, and considering roof vegetation is already important for supporting the ecology of urban areas, we surveyed 37 roofs in an urban part of Trabzon city focusing on the habitat effect. We found 51 plant species growing on these 37 roofs, and determined five different roof vegetation typologies in the research area. The main goal in any artificial green roof is to cover roof surfaces with vegetation, and success is considered a perfect coverage rate. We found roof surface size, species richness, size of the sunlit part, daily sunlight duration, and depth of the substrate are the most effective habitat attributes on vegetation coverage on rooftops in the research area.