Sustainable Growth of Medicinal and Aromatic Mediterranean Plants Growing as Communities in Shallow Substrate Urban Green Roof Systems

Dimitra S. Varela-Stasinopoulou, Panayiotis A. Nektarios (), Nikolaos Ntoulas, Panayiotis Trigas and Georgios I. Roukounakis
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Dimitra S. Varela-Stasinopoulou: Laboratory of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, 11855 Athens, Greece
Panayiotis A. Nektarios: Laboratory of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, 11855 Athens, Greece
Nikolaos Ntoulas: Laboratory of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, 11855 Athens, Greece
Panayiotis Trigas: Laboratory of Systematic Botany, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, 11855 Athens, Greece
Georgios I. Roukounakis: Laboratory of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, 11855 Athens, Greece

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 7, 1-28

Abstract: To date, the evaluation of the performance of Mediterranean native plants under urban green roof conditions has been limited to monoculture studies. However, plants grow naturally in plant communities and therefore it is of interest to evaluate their growth under realistic conditions, including interactions among plant species. The present study aims to evaluate the growth, flowering, and self-reproduction capacity of three artificially created plant communities consisting of native Mediterranean plants, as exemplified in Greece under shallow green roof substrate depths (8 and 15 cm) and two irrigation regimes (high, 20% ET o and low, 10% ET o ). The plant communities (PC) were designed to resemble xerophytic vegetation found either in Chania, Crete (PC-1), as a combined pattern with plants from Attica, Crete, and the Cyclades (Kythnos) (PC-2), or to resemble the coastal vegetation of Attica and Cyclades (Kythnos) (PC-3). Each of the three artificial plant communities (PC-1, PC-2 and PC-3) consisted of nine species and subspecies. The deeper substrate significantly improved the growth, flowering and survival of most plant taxa. The irrigation regime was not significant for all species except one, indicating that minimal amounts of irrigation are required. Four species did not manage to bloom while 15 species were able to self-reproduce.

Keywords: endemic; native; pharmaceutical; biodiversity; water stress; drought; artificial plant assemblages; species interaction; ecological planting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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