plant dynamic; ruderal; spontaneous species; green infrastructure; seed persistence; urban ecology; substrate depth; sun exposure
Abstract :
[en] Extensive green roofs have been shown to support native biodiversity and plant
communities that are analogous to natural or semi-natural habitats such as
grasslands. However, little is known about the role of soil seedbanks in the
dynamic of extensive green roof plant communities. The purpose of this study
was to analyze the seedbank that developed after 4 years of an extensive green
roof analog to dry grassland plant community, seeded with 29 species. We aimed
to understand the contribution of seedbank to the resilience of vegetation to
harsh conditions of the roof and to colonization by surrounding spontaneous
species. We monitored the plant species cover in 36 plots during 4 years in
June (between 2018 and 2021), and sampled the seedbank in February 2021. Our
results showed that the soil seedbank was dominated by transient spontaneous
ruderals species, while the standing vegetation was still dominated by seeded
grassland species. We found that seeded grassland species had poor seedbank
stock, similar to their natural environments. The similarity index between the
standing vegetation and the seedbank increased over time, and we measured
a significant correlation between dominant species cover and their seedbank
density. Spontaneous species cover was not correlated to the proportion of soil
not colonized by seeded species cover, indicating that gaps in vegetation did
not influence the development of spontaneous species. Our findings highlight
the importance of seedbank in the dynamic of green roof vegetation and
demonstrate that analogous habitat species exhibit similar behavior as in their
natural environments
Research Center/Unit :
TERRA Research Centre. Biodiversité et Paysage - ULiège
Disciplines :
Environmental sciences & ecology
Author, co-author :
Rivière, Lucie ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT > Biodiversité et Paysage
Sellier, Alizé
Dutoit, Thierry; Biodiversity and Landscape, TERRA Research Center, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, Gembloux, Belgium
Vidaller, Christel; Biodiversity and Landscape, TERRA Research Center, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, Gembloux, Belgium ; Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie (IMBE), UMR Avignon University, CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, IRD, Avignon, France
Buisson, Elise; Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie (IMBE), UMR Avignon University, CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, IRD, Avignon, France
Mahy, Grégory ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre > Biodiversité et Paysage ; Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie (IMBE), UMR Avignon University, CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, IRD, Avignon, France
Language :
English
Title :
The contribution of seedbank to the green roof plant community dynamics analogous to semi-natural grasslands
Publication date :
01 June 2023
Journal title :
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
eISSN :
2296-701X
Publisher :
Frontiers Media S.A., Switzerland
Volume :
11
Pages :
10
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Development Goals :
11. Sustainable cities and communities
Funders :
ULiège. ARC - Université de Liège. Actions de Recherche Concertées [BE]
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