One of the co-benefits of green infrastructure is that it provides pollinator habitat and supports local biodiversity. Many municipalities offer incentives for designing with pollinators in mind. Join GRHC’s Green Infrastructure For Biodiversity Protection and Enhancement Symposium to understand the critical role living architecture plays in resilient and diverse urban ecosystems. Learn about the design principles that support biodiverse projects and enhance their performance.
Approved for 3.5 LU|HSW credits from ASLA. Pending approval for 3 LU|HSW credits from AIA, APLD, and GRP credits
Agenda
| Time | Speaker | Topic |
| 1:00 | Steven W. Peck, GRP, Founder and President, GRHC | Introductory Remarks | 1:05 | Todd Smith, Practice Lead, Landscape Architecture, Beacon Environmental | Designing for Biodiversity: Mixing ecological science into landscape architecture As built environment design and ecology professionals, we must learn about and consider how our city-building and urban design practices can better increase biodiversity and minimize the loss of valuable ecosystem services. This presentation will take you through implemented landscape restoration and conservation projects to illustrate the process of restoration science and design, from the initial site surveys through to post-install monitoring. |
| 1:25 | Jack Satzewich, Independent Consultant | Biodiversity-led Green Infrastructure in a Changing Climate There is growing acceptance and uptake of green infrastructure approaches by a diverse range of practitioners, including health professionals, biologists, landscape architects, planners, and engineers, resulting in a patchwork of largely uncoordinated green infrastructure projects within eco-regions. Biodiversity-led green infrastructure represents the intersection between two types of regional planning: that which reduces the impacts of a changing climate and that which responds to the global mass extinction of species and loss of biodiversity. |
| 1:45 | Ishi Buffam, Researcher, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences | Patchy or not? Role of spatial heterogeneity for biodiversity in green roof ecosystems Variation in environmental conditions like shade and substrate moisture content can impact the potential plant communities and associated ecosystem service provision including biodiversity on green roofs. However, there are very few published studies on this topic looking specifically at small-scale spatial variation within a given roof. In this presentation I provide an overview of the current state of knowledge on this topic, and highlight new research – particularly several studies which will be published in an upcoming special issue of the Journal of Living Architecture. Included in the highlighted research are a study of the impact of rooftop photovoltaic (PV) cells and associated microclimate on underlying green roof plant and microbial activity; an experimental study manipulating substrate depth, and an observational case study relating spatial variation in rooftop shading to plant community richness over time. Additional papers help us consider how microclimate might affect the establishment and success of less common or even rare plant species, as well as which plants might be best selected for areas with high light and temperature exposure. These studies begin to scratch the surface but there are still substantial knowledge gaps when it comes to relating fine-scale spatial heterogeneity to biodiversity. |
| 2:05 | Dr. Christine Thuring, Director, Chlorophyllocity. Instructor, BCIT Centre for Architectural Ecology | Putting Biodiversity into Practice: The Maintenance Question Like any ecosystem, green roofs designed for biodiversity need appropriate maintenance. In an urban context, often with regionally unique pressures and novel conditions, what does appropriate maintenance look like? We'll explore some basic principles for maintaining ecological function and biodiversity on living roofs, and also some tricky points to look out for. This talk is based upon empirical observations from a number of biodiversity-led green roof projects, and draws upon the maintenance details that relate long-term function. It also presents some leading edge ideas for maintenance design specific to native bee habitat creation in the Pacific Northwest, extending from the living roofscape into the urban matrix, along with new opportunities to advance protection of habitat and biodiversity in human settlements. |
| 2:25 | Q&A | |
| 2:35 | Break | |
| 3:05 | Reid Coffman, Kent State University | Reintroducing rare plants and biodispersal in future green roofs Green roofs can disperse vegetation to assist landscape restoration efforts and expand conservation agendas. When using native plants in landscape restoration, it is tradition to use local species, however, should that the same for green roofs? This presentation overviews an attempt to use local species for native roofs that ultimately developed into a process of regional sourcing that included the installation and cultivation of rare and extirpated plant species. We will share our process for regional sourcing and the considerations that should be given to the reintroduction of new genetic plant populations. |
| 3:25 | Bruce Dvorak, Associate Professor, Texas A&M University | Ecoregional Green Roofs: Green Roofs inspired by Native Ecosystems Ecoregional Green Roofs is a new book that explores what ecoregions are and how they apply to green roofs. This presentation explores case studies from the book and features green roofs where native plants and native plant communities have been trialed on hundreds of green roofs in the central and western United States. The green roofs featured in this presentation have been inspired by prairies, deserts, rocky outcrops, and coastal meadows. Case studies cover the native analogue landscapes that inspired green roofs, design concepts, materials, watering and maintenance, wildlife, plant taxa, and lessons learned. |
| 3:45 | Dusty Gedge, President European Federation Of Green Roof And Wall Associations | Delivering and linking biodiversity to energy and water on green roofs Biodiverse green roofs are widely used in the U.K. partly due to my early work linking Switzerland and the need for biodiversity on green roofs in London. Over the 25 years this has weaved into also the delivery of biosolar roofs (solar green) and wetlands. This talk will cover the twenty years work and types and approaches used. |
| 4:05 | Olyssa Starry, Associate Professor, Portland State University | Effects of ecoroof habitat complexity on beetle biodiversity in Portland OR Invertebrates are increasingly appreciated for the numerous ecosystem services they provide yet their habitat is declining because of development. This presentation reviews our study of how greenroofs might counter this decline. We compare different greenroof designs in Portland with respect to their ability to promote beetle biodiversity. We also consider these findings in the context of other similar datasets available globally. Our findings suggest that efforts to promote greenroof invertebrate biodiversity can be successful but more work is needed to understand the role of greenroof habitat in the larger urbanizing landscape. |
| 4:25 | Q&A | |
Learn About:
The benefits of biodiversity and habitat
How environmental, social, and economic benefits build a case for biodiversity
Emerging practices to promote habitat protection and biodiversity
New opportunities to advance protection of habitat and biodiversity
Examples of habitats thriving to promote biodiversity within urban contexts
Cost:
50 USD Admission
