0000000000916737
AUTHOR
Chiara Catalano
Some European green roof norms and guidelines through the lens of biodiversity : do ecoregions and plant traits also matter?
Abstract Green infrastructure and in particular green roofs are crucial to meet the challenge of sustainable urbanisation fostered by the current European Research and Innovation agenda. Several documents were issued in the last decades in Europe for regulating the design, construction and up-keep of roof greening. In particular, the actual German guidelines have been widely adopted as a reference basis for green roof design and regulation worldwide, because of its exhaustiveness and proven building- and landscaping tradition. With the aim to assess the effectiveness of green roof guidelines and norms in supporting plant and soil biodiversity in different ecoregions, and particularly of the…
A plant sociological approach for extensive green roofs in Mediterranean areas
Extensive Green roofs can be an important mean for environmental mitigation if designed according to the principles of restoration ecology. Moreover, if optimally executed, properly managed and of sufficient extension, they could be assimilated to meta-populations of natural habitats, worth to be included in the biodiversity monitoring networks. The best example supporting this hypothesis is the Lake water plant Moos in Wollishofen (Zurich, Switzerland) where, on three 100 years old units of extensive green roofs, occur most of the typical flora of Mesobromion, including high density of some endangered orchid species. With this work, we propose a methodology approach for green roofs in Medi…
I TETTI VERDI DI TIPO ESTENSIVO: BIODIVERSITÀ AD ALTA QUOTA
Le città sono state paragonate da Odum a degli organismi eterotrofi che basano la loro crescita ed espansione sull’uso indiscriminato di risorse e sono causa di perdita irreversibile e frammentazione degli habitat naturali. I tetti verdi rappresentano uno strumento essenziale di mitigazione e compensazione ambientale all’interno del tessuto urbano dove, l’alta densità edilizia e l’elevato disturbo antropico concedono poco spazio alle dinamiche naturali. In particolare, i tetti verdi per la biodiversità caratterizzati da mosaici di micro-habitat diversi e contigui tra loro, possano ospitare specie con caratteristiche morfo-funzionali diverse. L’approccio noto come habitat template, consiste …
Thirty years unmanaged green roofs: Ecological research and design implications
Abstract The variations in species composition and assemblage of unmanaged simple-intensive green roofs in Hannover, Germany, were investigated over a thirty year period, in order to assess the persistence of the initial seed mixture and to evaluate floristic changes. The roofs were greened in 1985 with soil-based turf rolls sown with a mixture of five grasses (Festuca rubra, Festuca ovina, Agrostis capillaris, Lolium perenne and Poa pratensis). Three sets of 120 phytosociological releves, sampled in 1987, 1999 and 2014, have been compared to assess: (1) nestedness vs spatial turnover, (2) functional diversity and (3) the importance of vegetation dynamics on green roof performance and desig…
On the Modeling of Transcatheter Therapies for the Aortic and Mitral Valves: A Review
Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has become a milestone for the management of aortic stenosis in a growing number of patients who are unfavorable candidates for surgery. With the new generation of transcatheter heart valves (THV), the feasibility of transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR) for degenerated mitral bioprostheses and failed annuloplasty rings has been demonstrated. In this setting, computational simulations are modernizing the preoperative planning of transcatheter heart valve interventions by predicting the outcome of the bioprosthesis interaction with the human host in a patient-specific fashion. However, computational modeling needs to carry out increasingl…
Atlas-Based Evaluation of Hemodynamic in Ascending Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms
Atlas-based analyses of patients with cardiovascular diseases have recently been explored to understand the mechanistic link between shape and pathophysiology. The construction of probabilistic atlases is based on statistical shape modeling (SSM) to assess key anatomic features for a given patient population. Such an approach is relevant to study the complex nature of the ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm (ATAA) as characterized by different patterns of aortic shapes and valve phenotypes. This study was carried out to develop an SSM of the dilated aorta with both bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) and tricuspid aortic valve (TAV), and then assess the computational hemodynamic of virtual models ob…
Biodiverse green roofs in Mediterranean climate. Input and lessons learned from Germany and Switzerland
In the realm of the doctoral program in technologies for sustainability and land restoration, this thesis deepens sustainable and ecological solutions for Mediterranean environment after the German tradition and the Swiss school of green roofs for biodiversity. Specific aims were to: (1) assess the effectiveness of the existing green roofs norms in supporting biodiversity; (2) review methodologies and approaches for the implementation of biodiverse green roofs but also their application for ecological design; (3) identify habitat templates in the Mediterranean ecoregion replicable on green roofs; and (4) investigate the long term vegetation development of unmanaged green roofs in order to g…
More nature in the city
According to projects and practices that the Italian botanists and ecologists are carrying out for bringing “more nature in the city”, new insights for a factual integration between ecological perspectives and more consolidated aesthetic and agronomic approaches to the sustainable planning and management of urban green areas are provided.
Numerical simulation of transcatheter mitral valve replacement: The dynamic implication of LVOT obstruction in the valve-in-ring case.
Transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR) has been used for “off-label” treatment when annuloplasty band ring for mitral repair fails. However, the complex anatomy and function of the mitral valve may lead to fatal complications as a result of the left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction in TMVR. We report the structural and hemodynamic response of LVOT obstruction resulting from TMVR with the Edwards SAPIEN 3 Ultra (S3) device. We modified the original Living Heart Human Model (LHHM) to account for a failed mitral valve with an annuloplasty band ring and simulated the cardiac beating condition in the setting of S3 device implantation. Findings demonstrated a high dynamic behav…
Scale-dependent patterns and drivers of vascular plant, bryophyte and lichen diversity in dry grasslands of the Swiss inneralpine valleys
AbstractThe inner-alpine dry valleys of the Swiss Alps are characterized by subcontinental climate, leading to many peculiarities in dry grassland species composition. Despite their well-known uniqueness, comprehensive studies on biodiversity patterns of the dry grasslands in these valleys were still missing. To close this gap, we sampled 161 10-m2 vegetation plots in the Rhône, Rhine and Inn valleys, recording vascular plants, terricolous bryophyte and lichen species, as well as environmental data. Additionally, we tested the scale-dependence of environmental drivers using 34 nested-plot series with seven grain sizes (0.0001–100 m2). We analysed the effects of environmental drivers related…
Achievements, flaws, and future goals of scientific research on green roofs in mediterranean cities: first feedback from ongoing meta-analysis
Current scientific research points out the low number of papers focused on the environmental patterns in Mediterranean urban areas, where green infrastructure is still strongly underrated by scientists as well as by politicians, planners and decision-makers. In this paper, the results of a simple meta-analysis on the topics treated in scientific literature about the Mediterranean green roofs (MGRs) are presented. Our review pointed out the strikingly higher attention paid to building materials, energy efficiency and hydraulics with respect to life sciences (including basic ecology, horticulture, soil, plant and animal sciences) in the target paper selection. In fact, despite the availabilit…
A Plant Sociological Procedure for the Ecological Design and Enhancement of Urban Green Infrastructure
AbstractUrban green infrastructure could represent an important mean for environmental mitigation, if designed according to the principles of restoration ecology. Moreover, if suitably executed, managed and sized, they may be assimilated to meta-populations of natural habitats, deserving to be included in the biodiversity monitoring networks. In this chapter, we combined automatised and expert opinion-based procedures in order to select the vascular plant assemblages to populate different microhabitats (differing in terms of light and moisture) co-occurring on an existing green roof in Zurich (Switzerland). Our results lead to identify three main plant species groups, which prove to be the …
Urban Services to Ecosystems: An Introduction
Green infrastructure is a structural system of naturally developed human societies, capable of preserving and ensuring as much space as possible to the local biodiversity. For this reason, green infrastructure shall be planned and designed so that the urban built environment is in harmony with the surrounding biotic communities. The challenge is to sustain nature-based solutions in order to improve citizens’ awareness towards natural and semi-natural ecosystems while providing our society with a more liveable, healthier, safer and fairer environment. This book puts an emphasis on the services the city can offer to nature, thanks to a multidisciplinary approach involving scientists and pract…
Smart Sustainable Cities of the New Millennium: Towards Design for Nature
AbstractUrban environments consist of a mosaic of natural fragments, planned and unintentional habitats hosting both introduced and spontaneous species. The latter group exploits abandoned and degraded urban niches which, in the case of plants, form what is called thethird landscape. In the Anthropocene, cities, open spaces and buildings must be planned and designed considering not only human needs but also those of other living organisms. The scientific approach of habitat sharing is defined asreconciliation ecology, whilst the action of implementing the ecosystem services and functioning of such anthropogenic habitats is calledUrban Rehabilitation. However, urban development still represe…
Verde pensile estensivo ad alto valore ecologico in ambiente mediterraneo. Aspetti progettuali e funzionali
Green areas are open spaces holding an unexpected kind of local biodiversity within the city, linked to species and habitats frequently found in human settlements. Green roofs can be an important means for environmental mitigation and, if designed according to the principles of restoration ecology, can improve the thermodynamic performance / hydraulic system and at the same time encouraging the development of urban biodiversity. With this work, we propose a methodology approach for green roofs in Mediterranean areas, that integrate aesthetic values with the functional traits of native species, in order to make green roofs “local tanks of biodiversity”.
Potentiality of extensive green roofs soils in sustaining Mediterranean annual dry grassland of the EU-Habitat 6220*
Nature-based solutions are defined as living solutions inspired by, continuously supported by and using nature (Final Report of the Horizon 2020 Expert Group on 'Nature-Based Solutions and Re-Naturing Cities'). In line with this statement and according to the European research and innovation policy agenda, green roofs (GRs) represent a fundamental requisite for urban sustainable development, being potential stepping stones for plants and animals, including those characterizing habitats of Community interest. In our work, we tested the suitability of green roofs in hosting Mediterranean annual dry grassland of the 92/43 ECC Habitat 6220* (pseudo-steppe with grasses and annuals of the Thero-B…
Urban Services to Ecosystems - Green Infrastructure Benefits from the Landscape to the Urban Scale
The aim of this book is to bring together multidisciplinary research in the field of green infrastructure design, construction and ecology. The main core of the volume is constituted by contributions dealing with green infrastructure, vegetation science, nature-based solutions and sustainable urban development. The green infrastructure and its ecosystem services, indeed, are gaining space in both political agendas and academic research. However, the attention is focused on the services that nature is giving for free to and for human health and survival. What if we start to see things from another perspective? Our actions shall converge for instance to turn man-made environment like cities f…