Growing plants on rooftops is an old concept that has evolved from simple sod roofing to roof gardens and new, lightweight "extensive green roofs". Researchers have like ned green roofs to rock outcrop ecosystems and have begun to treat them as habitat templates where unique biotical assem-blages adapted to the harsh rooftop conditions are expected to colonize (Larson and others 2004). Plant communities which are tolerant of the extreme weather conditions found on rooftops. Green roofs typically contain layers of engineered growing media and drainage materials which are incorpo-rated into a roof membrane and support One example of these de-signer ecosystems is vegetated or green roofs. Have been altered due to the impact of human development. Another method is to develop engineered systems which mimic and replace forms and functions which One way to prevent this type of environmental decline in urban areas is to simply preserve patches of land in cities for parks and other green space, thus maintaining many of the ecosystem services in these isolated areas (Pincetl and Gearin 2005). Erosion of stream bed and banks from high storm flows, elevated pollutant transport capac-ity during storm events, and the culvert-ing and burying of urban headwater streams are all common results of this type of storm water management. Conventionally-engineered storm water systems typically only func-tion to reduce flooding while exacerbat-ing the other environmental problems associated with urbanization. These services provided by the soil are costly to replace. Covering the ground with impervious surface a ubiquitous feature of urban areas, greatly reduces the infil-tration capacity of the soil and dramati-cally alters urban hydrology causing increased flooding, aquatic ecosystem degradation, and water quality impair-ment (Paul and Meyer 2001). One of the most detrimental effects is that the ecological processes in urban areas can be irreversibly altered and the ecosystem services provided by these processes are often lost (Farber and others 2006). Urbanization is a phenomenon that affects the environment in profound ways. The past decade has seen the North American green roof industry rapidly expand through international green roof conferences, demonstration sites, case studies, and scientific research. Green roofs are a prime example of one of these practices. As concerns for environ-mental improvement in urban areas become more prevalent, innovative practices which create ecosystem services and ecologically function all and cover in cities will be in higher demand. Traditional construction practices provide little opportunity for environmental remediation to occur in urban areas.
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