Grullón-Penkova Iana F, Zimmerman Jess K, González Grizelle
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Puerto Rico, 17 Avenida Universidad, Río Piedras, PR 00921, USA.
International Institute of Tropical Forestry, USDA Forest Service, Jardín Botánico Sur, 1201 Calle Ceiba, Río Piedras, PR 00926-1119, USA.
Heliyon. 2020 Aug 19;6(8):e04712. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04712. eCollection 2020 Aug.
Green roofs (GR) have been proposed as a possible solution for urban stressors that, integrated with other remediation and mitigation actions, can lead the way to a more sustainable society. Even when some aspects of green roof design are well established and known (i.e. depth arrangements, materials, structural components, etc.) there is a need for further development on ecological attributes. This study is a descriptive analysis of suitable plant species for their possible incorporation in green roof designs with tropical climate conditions. Green roof research has been mostly led by temperate climate countries and has neglected to address tropical areas; this study aims to move research towards this knowledge gap. The evaluation of the vegetation dynamics in these novel ecosystems was done through a case study in the renovated facilities of the International Institute of Tropical Forestry in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, which incorporated a set of green roofs in their infrastructure. We also sampled an older green roof built in the Social Sciences Faculty at the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras. A three-dimensional approach, the Point-Intercept Method, was taken in the vegetation surveys to capture as much as possible the green infrastructure of the roofs. Most of the originally planted species did not appear in these surveys. On the contrary, mainly new species dominated the areas. Along with the findings of these surveys and those in other tropical countries, a list of suitable species for green roofs in Puerto Rico is suggested, and some general recommendations are made for the better management of green roofs in tropical zones.
绿色屋顶（GR）已被提议作为应对城市压力源的一种可能解决方案，与其他修复和缓解措施相结合，可为迈向更可持续的社会指明道路。即便绿色屋顶设计的某些方面已得到充分确立和认知（如深度布局、材料、结构组件等），但在生态属性方面仍需进一步发展。本研究是对适合纳入热带气候条件下绿色屋顶设计的植物物种的描述性分析。绿色屋顶研究大多由温带气候国家主导，而忽视了热带地区；本研究旨在填补这一知识空白，推动相关研究。通过对位于波多黎各圣胡安里奥彼德拉斯的国际热带林业研究所翻新设施中的一系列绿色屋顶进行案例研究，评估了这些新型生态系统中的植被动态。我们还对建于波多黎各大学圣胡安里奥彼德拉斯分校社会科学学院的一个较旧的绿色屋顶进行了采样。在植被调查中采用了三维方法——点截距法，以尽可能全面地捕捉屋顶的绿色基础设施情况。在这些调查中，最初种植的大多数物种并未出现。相反，主要是新物种占据了这些区域。结合这些调查结果以及其他热带国家的调查结果，提出了一份适合波多黎各绿色屋顶的物种清单，并针对热带地区绿色屋顶的更好管理提出了一些一般性建议。
