Microbial Analyses on Green Roofs in Athens, OH
by Austin Gray
The assemblage of fungi, bacteria, archaea, and protists present in the green roof substrate is known collectively as the “microbiome”. The microbiome forms symbiotic relationships with plants in the green roof substrate. These relationships help to maintain the health and contribute to characteristics of the plant community, such as drought tolerance, pathogen protection, tolerance to salt, and nutrient availability as well as stabilizing substrate (Fulthorpe et al. 2018). These microbial communities are ever changing, and plant community structure may determine which microbes colonize the green roof substrate (Hoch et al. 2019). The goal of this project is to identify what microbial communities are present in the green roof substrate and to understand how these communities change over time.
We began collecting samples of the substrate immediately after the installation of the green roof on Schoonover Center in July 2020. For comparative analysis we also began collecting samples from the green roof on Patton Hall on campus and from the Holzer Clinic on E. State street. These comparisons will give us insight into how the microbial communities are changing on a newly installed green roof versus already established green roofs. Samples have been collected continuously at three-week intervals and placed in cold storage until DNA could be isolated. Using microbial biomass along with 16s and 18s rRNA analysis we will be able to identify what microbial communities are present in the green roof substrate and examine how community structure is changing over time.
References:
Fulthorpe R, Maclvor JS, Jia P and Yasui S-LE (2018) The Green Roof Microbiome: Improving Plant Survival for Ecosystem Service Delivery. Front. Ecol. Evol. 6:5. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2018.00005
Hock JMK, Rhodes ME, Shek KL, Dinwiddie D, Hiebert TC, Gili AS, Salazar Estrada AE, Griffin KL, Palmer MI and McGuire KL (2019) Soil Microbial Assemblages Are Linked to Plant Community Composition and Contribute to Ecosystem Services on Urban Green Roofs. Front. Ecol. Evol. 7:198. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00198