INS 10-5 - Soil microbial diversity and belowground facilitation among edible green roof plants

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM EDT

Location: 520A

Presenting Author(s)

AR

Adriano Roberto, BSc

University of Toronto Scarborough, Ontario, Canada

Co-author(s)

AN

Andrew L. Nichols

Master's Candidate
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto
AR

Andres G. Rolhauser

Post-doctoral fellow
Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough
JM

J. Scott MacIvor

Assistant Professor
Biological Sciences, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto
MI

Marney E. Isaac, PhD

Professor
Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON M1C 1A4, Canada

Green roofs are an important part of urban green spaces, allowing cities to mitigate environmental stressors and increase ecosystem services. Soil microbes may facilitate the resilience and tolerance of plants to stressors and maximize access to soil nutrients, which is vital for food production in these systems. Despite the important role soil microbial communities play in plant growth and survival in natural and agricultural habitats, little is known about microbial communities in green roofs. Here I examine soil microbial diversity and root functional traits as indicators of facilitation on three garden vegetable plants grown with Sedum on extensive green roofs.