TY - JOUR
T1 - Can we integrate ecological approaches to improve plant selection for green infrastructure?
AU - Farrell, C.
AU - Livesley, S. J.
AU - Arndt, S. K.
AU - Beaumont, L.
AU - Burley, H.
AU - Ellsworth, D.
AU - Esperon-Rodriguez, M.
AU - Fletcher, T. D.
AU - Gallagher, R.
AU - Ossola, A.
AU - Power, S. A.
AU - Marchin, R.
AU - Rayner, J. P.
AU - Rymer, P. D.
AU - Staas, L.
AU - Szota, C.
AU - Williams, N. S. G.
AU - Leishman, M.
PY - 2022/10
Y1 - 2022/10
N2 - Modern cities are dominated by impervious surfaces that absorb, store and release heat in summer, create large volumes of runoff and provide limited biodiversity habitat and poor air quality can also be a health issue. Future climate change, including more frequent and extreme weather events will likely exacerbate these issues. Green infrastructure such as parks, gardens, street trees and engineered technologies such as green roofs and walls, facades and raingardens can help mitigate these problems. This relies on selecting plants that can persist in urban environments and improve stormwater retention, cooling, biodiversity and air pollution. However, plant selection for green infrastructure is challenging where there is limited information on species tolerance to heat and water variability or how these species can deliver multiple benefits. Therefore, we draw on research to illustrate how plant performance for green infrastructure can be inferred from plant attributes (i.e., traits) or from analysis of their natural distribution. We present a new framework for plant selection for green infrastructure and use a case study to demonstrate how this approach has been used to select trees and shrubs for Australian cities. We have shown through the case study and examples, how plant traits and species’ natural distribution can be used to overcome the lack of information on tolerance to both individual and multiple stressors; and how species contribute to the provision of benefits such as stormwater retention, cooling, biodiversity and air pollution mitigation. We also discuss how planting design and species diversity can contribute to achieving multiple benefits to make the most of contested space in dense cities, and to also reduce the risk of failure in urban greening.
AB - Modern cities are dominated by impervious surfaces that absorb, store and release heat in summer, create large volumes of runoff and provide limited biodiversity habitat and poor air quality can also be a health issue. Future climate change, including more frequent and extreme weather events will likely exacerbate these issues. Green infrastructure such as parks, gardens, street trees and engineered technologies such as green roofs and walls, facades and raingardens can help mitigate these problems. This relies on selecting plants that can persist in urban environments and improve stormwater retention, cooling, biodiversity and air pollution. However, plant selection for green infrastructure is challenging where there is limited information on species tolerance to heat and water variability or how these species can deliver multiple benefits. Therefore, we draw on research to illustrate how plant performance for green infrastructure can be inferred from plant attributes (i.e., traits) or from analysis of their natural distribution. We present a new framework for plant selection for green infrastructure and use a case study to demonstrate how this approach has been used to select trees and shrubs for Australian cities. We have shown through the case study and examples, how plant traits and species’ natural distribution can be used to overcome the lack of information on tolerance to both individual and multiple stressors; and how species contribute to the provision of benefits such as stormwater retention, cooling, biodiversity and air pollution mitigation. We also discuss how planting design and species diversity can contribute to achieving multiple benefits to make the most of contested space in dense cities, and to also reduce the risk of failure in urban greening.
KW - Air Pollution, Biodiversity
KW - Climate change
KW - Cooling
KW - Ecosystem service
KW - Green infrastructure
KW - Physiology, Stormwater
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85138079814&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP190100536
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP160100780
U2 - 10.1016/j.ufug.2022.127732
DO - 10.1016/j.ufug.2022.127732
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85138079814
SN - 1618-8667
VL - 76
SP - 1
EP - 11
JO - Urban Forestry and Urban Greening
JF - Urban Forestry and Urban Greening
M1 - 127732
ER -