A comparison of native and novel ecosystems : green roof impacts on plant growth and pest abundance

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dc.contributor.advisor Lundholm, Jeremy T. (Jeremy Todd), 1970-
dc.coverage.spatial Nova Scotia
dc.creator Grimshaw-Surette, Hughstin
dc.date.accessioned 2016-07-20T14:39:16Z
dc.date.available 2016-07-20T14:39:16Z
dc.date.issued 2016
dc.identifier.uri http://library2.smu.ca/handle/01/26606
dc.description 1 online resource (61 p.) : ill. (some col.)
dc.description Includes abstract.
dc.description Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-61).
dc.description.abstract There is little research that supports the potential of green roofs to provide biodiversity similar to ground-level habitat. This study examined three hypotheses. (1) Due to the similarities in environmental stresses, plants native to the coastal barrens established on green roof ecosystems will display similar growth productivity as plants established in the native environment. (2) Plants established in novel green roof ecosystems are subjected to higher presence of plant enemies (aphid and rust) compared to plants in the native environment. (3) The presence of salt spray at the coastal barrens (the native environment) limits the presence of pests on plant individuals. Plant growth and pest presence were quantified at three different sites, two extensive green roofs with different levels of environmental stresses located in Halifax, NS and one coastal barren site located at Duncan’s Cove, NS. Data were collected biweekly on four native plant species over the 2015 growing season. Results indicated the harsher extensive green roof supported growth productivity similar to the plants established in the coastal barrens. Plants established at the coastal barrens had significantly lower abundance of pests than plants established on green roof ecosystems. These results varied depending on what pest or plant species was examined. Artificially created salt spray had some effect on reducing pest presence in the green roof environment however these results were not significant for all species and their associated pests. While the novel green roof environment supported more plant enemies than the native environment of these plant species, the prevalence of aphids and other pests on the roof may yet provide benefits to the ecosystem by increasing insect species diversity. The green roofs ability to support similar plant growth productivity as the native ecosystem, indicate green roofs developed to mimic coastal barrens ecosystems could help increase biodiversity and other beneficial functions. en_CA
dc.description.provenance Submitted by Greg Hilliard (greg.hilliard@smu.ca) on 2016-07-20T14:39:16Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Grimshaw-Surette_Hughstin_Honours_2016.pdf: 4510470 bytes, checksum: e6ce94360fb64db32641023cfecfb393 (MD5) en
dc.description.provenance Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-20T14:39:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Grimshaw-Surette_Hughstin_Honours_2016.pdf: 4510470 bytes, checksum: e6ce94360fb64db32641023cfecfb393 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-11 en
dc.language.iso en en_CA
dc.publisher Halifax, N.S. : Saint Mary's University
dc.title A comparison of native and novel ecosystems : green roof impacts on plant growth and pest abundance en_CA
dc.type Text en_CA
thesis.degree.name Bachelor of Science (Honours Environmental Science)
thesis.degree.level Undergraduate
thesis.degree.discipline Environmental Science
thesis.degree.grantor Saint Mary's University (Halifax, N.S.)
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