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Ground-Nesting Birds on Green Roofs in Switzerland: Preliminary Observations

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Abstract

Bird species in Switzerland are threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation due to increasing urbanization. New research is showing that green roofs can provide food habitat for some bird species. But little research has been done on the potential of green roofs for providing nesting locations for birds, particularly ground-nesting species. This preliminary two-year study (part of a larger, multiyear project) examined the breeding success of the little ringed plover (Charadrius dubius) and northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) on flat green roofs in five sites in Switzerland surrounded by varied levels of development. Results show that northern lapwings have begun to breed consistently, though as of yet unsuccessfully, on some green roofs. Because the observation time was short, the available data are incomplete. Nonetheless, they show certain tendencies with regard to the habitat selection and behavior of young and adult birds—important information that can be applied to future research and green roof design.
... Both birds and bats use green roofs as foraging habitat during migration and during the breeding season (Parkins and Clark, 2015;Partridge and Clark, 2018;Partridge et al., 2020b). While few bird species nest on green roofs (Partridge and Clark, 2018), ground nesting birds do (Baumann, 2006;Baumann and Kasten, 2010;Baumann et al., 2021), including Larus gulls, with up to 1700 ring-billed gull nests recorded in a colony on a single 0.74 ha green roof in Chicago (Washburn et al., 2016). Similarly, due to habitat loss, Larus gulls nest on conventional roofs (Kubetzki and Garthe, 2007;Soldatini et al., 2008a;Soldatini et al., 2008b;Perlut et al., 2016). ...
... This may be of particular benefit for locally threatened and wind pollinated plants since they do not rely on local pollinators and would be able to disperse seed at greater distances, taking advantage of elevation and urban wind currents (Li and Yeung 2014). For faunal translocations, care must be taken to ensure that the green roof provides all necessary habitat requirements (Fernandez-Canero and Gonzalez-Redondo 2010) and hosts conditions viable for growth (Baumann 2006), as well as take into account the potential for genetic drift (Gillespie 2001). Successful translocations are already apparent in integrated pest management applications and could be applied to the urban conservation context, particularly for small invertebrates that may make good use of small green roof habitats. ...
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Green roof retrofits offer a promising avenue to increase greenspace and thus biodiversity in the city. The successful colonisation and establishment of plants and animals on green roofs is limited by the location and context of the green roof. Here we use a before, after, control, impact (BACI) design to monitor the colonisation of a new retrofit roof in Melbourne CBD. We find that colonisation for some taxa occurs rapidly, with honeybees (Apis mellifera) arriving four days after flowers had been planted. Other insect taxa, such as native bees, did not colonise the impact roof but were present on the green roof reference site, which was lower in height and planted with native plants. Invertebrate abundance increased for all sites after the retrofit was built, however this sampling period was in late spring when more insects are expected to be active. Bird richness and abundance didn’t change in response to roof greening, but invertebrate richness was significantly higher on reference sites and increased after the green roof retrofit was built for the impact site. There was an apparent ‘spill over’ effect onto the nearby green roof control, which also increased in invertebrate diversity. Overall, invertebrate composition across roof types was driven by floral density. Floral density and richness increased on the impact roof as vegetation matured, subsequently correlating with higher abundance and richness of invertebrates. We use these findings to discuss colonisation of green roofs and argue for strategic placement of new green roof retrofits to maximise their biodiversity potential.
... Green roofs can serve as habitat for a variety of insect species (Coffman andDavis, 2005, Grant, 2006) and have been previously shown to act as a nesting habitat for shore and wading birds (Baumann, 2006). Given the significant observational evidence for increased biodiversity associated with green roofs, numerous studies have attempted to quantify this. ...
Technical Report
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Green roofs and the integration of greenery into building structures is a vital component in building resilient cities in a changing climate. However, there is currently a lack of research that confirms many of the well understood (but often anecdotal) benefits of green roofs, including hosting biodiversity, counteracting air pollution; reducing ambient temperatures that contribute to the urban heat island effect, the provision of efficient renewable energies and decreasing city-scape surface runoff from rainwater. With the support of the City of Sydney, the work presented here describes studies conducted in collaboration with Lendlease, Junglefy and the University of Technology Sydney to evaluate several performance characteristics essential for determining the functionality of green roofs in Sydney Australia. These research questions were explored by conducting comparative research on two identical buildings of similar age, both located adjacent to one another in Barangaroo,-one with photovoltaic panels (International House) and one integrating photovoltaic panels with a green roof (Daramu House).
... Green roofs now number over 700 in central London alone (GLA, 2017a) and there exists a body of evidence for how they perform for biodiversity (Baumann, 2006) and bee species of conservation significance (Brenneisen, 2006). Green roofs are particularly important for habitat provision for invertebrates, for example 136 different species of invertebrate were found in just 8 London green roofs (Jones, 2002), and specifically 59 species of spiders (9% of the UK total) were found in just 10 green roofs (Kadas, 2006 ...
... Species richness of spider and beetle populations of green roof increases with plant species richness and topographic variability, reported by Kadas (2006). Roof gardens with trees also allow nesting of birds and native avian communities (Baumann, 2006). Based on these findings, topographic variability, nesting opportunities and perching habitat were included as indicators of biodiversity. ...
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