Conference proceeding
Vulnerability of Green Infrastructure Vegetation to Climate Change
ASABE 1st Climate Change Symposium: Adaptation and Mitigation
03 May 2015
Abstract
Green Infrastructure (GI) are systems that deliver multiple ecosystem services (i.e. stormwater management, cooling temperatures, carbon uptake, etc.) through soil and vegetation processes such as infiltration, evapotranspiration and photosynthesis. Vegetation in GI facilities provide transpirative cooling, rain interception and increased storage capacity of the soil. In addition to these benefits, GI has a lower carbon footprint associated with its installation, operation and maintenance; therefore, it has been suggested that GI could be adopted as a mitigation and adaptation strategy to help cities build resilience to climate change. However, the vegetation installed in GI can be vulnerable to extreme climate episodes. For example, under normal conditions plants contribute to the total evapotranspiration in a GI facility. Conversely under stress the plant performance will be compromised. In this study we investigate how consecutive climate stress conditions affect the performance of species commonly specified in the NYC Parks and Recreation GI designs. Specifically we aim to understand how consecutive droughts and high temperatures affect the stomatal conductance, transpiration, leaf area and plant biomass. These parameters were adopted as indicators of plant health as they are linked to the physiological function of the plants and ecosystem services such as carbon up take and evapotranspiration. Investigating the combined effects of climate factors, specifically high temperatures, solar radiation, relative humidity [RH] and vapor pressure deficit [VPD] associated with stressing irrigation regimes on plant health, will help practitioners and stakeholders to design GI facilities that will perform optimally under climate change.
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Details
- Title
- Vulnerability of Green Infrastructure Vegetation to Climate Change
- Creators
- Lauren A. Smalls-ManteyMaria Raquel Catalano de SousaFranco Montalto
- Publication Details
- ASABE 1st Climate Change Symposium: Adaptation and Mitigation
- Publisher
- American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers
- Resource Type
- Conference proceeding
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering
- Other Identifier
- 991021862717104721