Abstract
Through a partnership with local business Living Roofs Inc, a four-year-old green roof was observed for pollinator use. The primary goal of this project was to study the practical application of urban agriculture and its impact on pollinators. The green roof, which is a plant guild that is similar to a meadow, provides habitat and food support for local wild pollinators through using plants that are native to Western North Carolina, and are favored by a variety of different pollinators, including, but not limited to honey bees, pollinating flies, and butterflies. Plants on the roof that were studied include Allium schoenoprasum, commonly known as chives, Petrorhagia saxifrage, or petrorhagia, Asclepias tuberosa, or butterflyweed, and Sedum sp., or stonecrop. Research was conducted on the current populations of pollinators that visit urban Asheville and were monitored over the course of the project. The green roof was found to be effective habitat for many kinds of pollinators in the Hymenoptera and Diptera orders. The secondary goal of this study was to build on the existing literature surrounding the relationship between vegetated roofs and pollinators, which is slightly lacking.
How to Cite
Manen, L. V., (2020) “Assessing Green Roof Benefits for Pollinators”, Capstone, The UNC Asheville Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship 33(2).
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