Performance of native plants on pre-grown vegetation mats for green roof applications

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Green roofs are increasingly popular in North America as greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs rise. There are many well known benefits associated with green roofs including moderating building temperatures, mitigating stormwater run-off and increasing carbon sequestration. Xero Flor is one of the largest green roof companies operating in Canada. Xero Flor offers a unique pre-grown mat roof system that can be rolled up and applied to an existing roof structure. While this instant green roof has been installed elsewhere in North America, Xero Flor has not yet established a customer base or recognizable profile in Atlantic Canada. Despite the absence of the green roof industry, one nationally-funded green roof testing facility that has been in operation in Canada is found on the campus of Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This facility, designed by Dr. Jeremy Lundholm, has made significant advances in studying the function of native plants growing on green roofs. This collaborative project seeks to foster a unique partnership between academics working at Saint Mary's University Green Roof Testing Facility and industry consultants from Xero Flor. Over two phases, we will test the germination rate, percent cover and susceptibility to weeds of the Xero Flor mat system in a production facility outside of Halifax. In the second phase, we will install Xero Flor mats grown with native plants on a pre-existing roof within the Halifax Regional Municipality. Our study objectives include testing native Nova Scotian plant species on Xero Flor mat systems and evaluating the utility of growing green roof plants with soil amendments such as soil microorganisms, particularly mycorrhizal fungi. To date, no studies have examined the interaction between green roof performance and belowground factors.