Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Urban world population has grown rapidly over the last decades. 74% of the European population live in
urban areas, and that is expected to increase to over 80% by 2050. This rapid urbanization brings several
environmental problems, aggravated due to climate change. Conservation and enhancement of green
infrastructures in urban areas is imperative for sustainable urban development.
Green Roofs (GR), a multilayer technological construction that uses vegetation on top of buildings or
structural slabs, are becoming a strong choice to promote urban greenery, using an area that accounts for
ca. 50% of the impermeable urban surface area. Besides energy benefits to the building structure, water
retention/runoff delay to the stormwater drainage systems is another ecosystem service provided by GR.
In the present study, a GR pilot system using aromatic plants and a commercial substrate has been studied
regarding its capacity of water retention. Based on a previous water runoff model, rainwater retention by the
system has been calculated to be ca. 30%. In previous studies, aromatic plants demonstrated that could be
successfully used on GR in the Mediterranean region. Strategies to increase plant growth and minimize the
adverse effects of the harsh environment on plant growth on the top of a building are important. Pot
experiments using Satureja montana comprised inoculation of a selected mixture of plant growth promoting
bacteria. Differences in the growth of plants in control and inoculated pots were followed to assess the
potential of bacterial endophytes as bioinoculants in green roofs vegetation is under analysis.
Description
Keywords
Green Roofs Water retention
Pedagogical Context
Citation
Monteiro C. M., Castro P. M. L. (2019). Green Roofs as a biotechnological solution to increase water retention in urban areas. Pp. 117. In: Book of Abstracts of the Microbiotec’19 – Congress of Microbiology and Biotechnology 2019. 5-7/12/2019, Coimbra, Portugal.
Publisher
Microbiotec 2019