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Liu Et Al. - 2012 - Drought Tolerance and Thermal Effect Measurements For Plants Suitable For Extensive Green Roof Planting in Humid Subtropical Climates
Liu Et Al. - 2012 - Drought Tolerance and Thermal Effect Measurements For Plants Suitable For Extensive Green Roof Planting in Humid Subtropical Climates
C, and November
temperatures average 22
5
1
e
hc/kT
1
(1)
where is wavelength, T is the absolute temperature of the
black body, h is the Planck constant (6.62510
34
J s), c is the
speed of light (310
8
m/s), and k is the Boltzmann constant
(1.3806610
23
J/K). The relationship between spectral radiance
with wavelength can be calculated from Eq. (1). In this study, the
results of radiance by leaves are determined by the type of low
energy with long-wavelength which can be detected by infrared
thermal imager. The infrared thermal imager, with a sensitivity
of 0.07
C and 1500
C.
The temperature was highest in September, reaching 29.3
C. The
rooftop environment was under intense daylight, often recording
temperatures above the daily average. During the experimen-
tal period there were two typhoons in early August and early
October, whichbrought heavyrainfall. This raisedthe rainfall quan-
tity in August to 810.8mm less rainfall between September and
November was observedinoneof therepresentativeareas of humid
subtropical climates. Total rainfall in the experimental period was
958.9mm. Early in the experiment, all plants grewwell due to the
abundant rainprovidedbythe typhoon. Almost norainfall occurred
after the typhoon, and the plants have to survive by their own
endurance against lack of water. By observing the growth of the 31
types of thin layer green roof plants over 123 days, the plants were
classied into the categories of normal growth, stunted growth,
obviously wilted, apical leaves only, and dead. The results are dis-
cussed below.
(1) Plants with normal growth:
Portulacaria afra, P. afra f. variegate, and Euphorbia stenoclada
aresucculent shrubs that grewshort andsmall duetothethinny
soil layer, but withstood lack of water well, and are thus suit-
able for a rooftop climate. The four succulent plants Kalanchoe
longiora var. coccinea, Kalanchoe hildebrandtii, Kalanchoe mil-
loti, andKalanchoe fedtschenkoi continuednormal growthunder
environments of water deciency. They are highly effective in
utilizing water and are adequate drought tolerant plants.
(2) Plants with stunted growth:
Kalanchoe thyrsiora, Pachyveria pachyphytoides Walth,
Echeveria cv. Hanatsukiyo, Sedum nussbaumerianum Bitter,
184 T.-C. Liu et al. / Energy and Buildings 47 (2012) 180188
10
15
20
20
32
32
32
40
41
66
70
70
70
70
70
70
82
82
87
87
97
108
108
112
123
123
123
123
123
123
123
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Aptenia cordifolia
Tagetes lemmonii
Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth
Echeveria carnicolor
Pogostemon cablin cv. 'Variegata'
Plectranthus socotranum
Echeveria cv. Black Prince
Setcreasea Pallida
Graptopetalum paraguayense
Rhoeo spathaceo cv Compacta
Gasteria gracilis Baker
Sedum pachyphyllum Rose
Echeveria pulidonis
Echeveria chihuahuaensis
Neoregelia 'Fireball'
Echeveria atropurpuream
Pedilanthus thymaloides(L.) Poit
Setcreasea purpurea Boom
Pedilanthus thymaloides cv. 'Nanus'
Billbergia spp.
Echeveria cv. HANATSUKIYO
Pachyveria pachyphytoides Walth
Kalanchoe thyrsiora
Sedum nussbaumerianum Bier
Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi
Kalanchoe millo
Euphorbia stenoclada
Kalanchoe hildebrandi
Portulacaria afra f. variegata
Portulacaria afra
Kalanchoe longiora var.coccinea
day
S
p
e
c
i
e
s
Fig. 1. Days of normal growth for plants in drought tolerance experiment.
Pedilanthus tithymaloides cv. Nanus, and P. tithymaloides (L.)
Poit are all succulent plants with eshy leaves which encounter
water deciency. These plants ceased growth to counter the
drought stress, and are good drought tolerant plants.
(3) Obviously wilted plants:
None of the plants Setcreasea purpurea Boom, Billbergia spp.,
Setcreasea pallida, or Rhoeo spathaceo cv. Compacta are suc-
culents. They have thinner leaves that lack water storage
functions, thus the plants appear obviously wilted. However,
growth may resume if water is provided. These are plants that
are mildly drought tolerant. Echeveria chihuahuaensis, Echeveria
pulidonis, SedumpachyphyllumRose, and Gasteria gracilis Baker
are the fewer droughts tolerant of the succulents. They are also
classied as mildly drought tolerant.
(4) Plants with only apical leaves remaining:
The four echveria-like plants Graptopetalum paraguayense,
Echeveria atropurpuream, Echeveria cv. Black Prince, and Echev-
eria carnicolor are plants that estimate temporarily during
the summer. Autumn is their period of high growth. If the
soil is too dry, then the old leaves wilt away. The later part
of the experimental period occurred during the autumn, dur-
ing which the plants require water supply for growth. Under
dry conditions, the plants may gradually proceed toward death
due to their inability to absorb water. Wilting their leaves,
however, is the third line of defense for plants under con-
ditions of water scarcity. All ve plants G. paraguayense, E.
atropurpuream, Echeveria cv. Black Prince, E. carnicolor, and
Neoregelia Fireball were left with their apical leaves, which
kept the whole plant alive to sprout new buds after rain-
fall. These plants are considered to be mildly susceptible to
drought.
(5) Dead plants:
The four plants Tagetes lemmonii, Plectranthus socotranum,
Pogostemon cablin cv. Variegata, and P. cablin (Blanco) Benth
are non-succulent plants. Their leaves died due to their inabil-
ity to store enough water for droughts of long duration. Aptenia
cordifolia prefers warmenvironments, and is more suitable for
growth between March and June. During the high temperature
summer environment between July and October, A. cordifolia
gradually died of intolerance to the heat.
As can be seen in Fig. 1, the seven plants P. afra, P. afra f. var-
iegate, E. stenoclada, K. longiora var. coccinea, K. hildebrandtii, K.
milloti, K. fedtschenkoi can grow well for at least 123 days; fol-
lowed by S. nussbaumerianum Bitter (112 days), K. thyrsiora (108
days), and P. pachyphytoides Walth (108 days). These ten plants
are suitable for growing in the subtropical climate of Taiwan; and
will be able to adapt to the dry and hot environments on rooftops,
demonstrating high water utilization efciency during the experi-
ments; and are suitable for growing in thin layer green roofs. The
nine plants A. cordifolia (10 days), T. lemmonii (15 days), P. cablin
(Blanco) Benth (20 days), E. carnicolor (20 days), P. socotranum
(32 days), P. cablin cv. Variegata (32 days), Echeveria cv. Black
Prince (32 days), S. pallida (40 days), and G. paraguayense (41 days)
could not growwell, and exhibited slowed down growth. They are
considered non drought tolerant in their inability to adapt to dry
environments.
Though plants with high drought tolerance belong to different
families and have different leaf morphologies, sizes, and colors,
each have their own respective drought coping mechanisms to
adapt to environmental stress. Their common point is that they
are all succulent plants with eshy leaves that serve as organs for
water storage. Drought tolerant plants are common in the genus
Kalanchoe under the family Crassulaceae. There are 200 species in
the genus Kalanchoe, which are mainly distributed in Madagascar
and tropical Africa, with a few species in Asia. They are succulent
herbaceous plants with characteristic adventitious buds that may
be grown into small plants. Easily bred, highly drought tolerant,
and simple to cultivate, they are the top choices for drought toler-
ant plants, and are well suited to a desert like rooftop microclimate
with large daily temperature variations.
3.3. Thermal effect analysis or different plants
We measured the thermal effects for nine plants, including
Zoysia matrella, Kalanchoe garambiensis, Torilis japonica (Houtt.)
DC., Bryophyllum pinnatum Lam. Kurz, R. spathaceo cv. Compacta,
Sedum lineare cv. robustum, Ixora williamsii cv., Sansevieria trifas-
ciata cv. Hahnii, and Callisia repens L., by comparing the differences
in temperatures on leaf surfaces and belowthe plants. Leaf surface
temperatures were taken with infrared thermal imagers (Fig. 2(a)).
T.-C. Liu et al. / Energy and Buildings 47 (2012) 180188 185
Fig. 2. Thermal effect analysis frominfrared thermal imager on (a) nine types of plants; (b) Bryophyllumpinnatumof different plant heights; (c) Ipomoea batata of different
leaf colors.
Data was captured via image planar analysis, which reduces
potential errors from complicated plant morphology. Tempera-
tures below the plants were obtained from point averages in the
planting dish. The time measurements were taken between 10:30
and 15:00, where the data was calculated automatically every
minute, total to the record of 271 each day.
The results are shown in Table 3. The lowest average tempera-
ture on the leaf surface is that of T. japonica (Houtt.) DC. at 35.8
C.
The highest average surface temperature occurs on C. repens L. at
46.7
C) and I.
williamsii cv. (36.8
C; and the
lowest for T. japonica (Houtt.) DC. at 5.5
C.
C. repens L. scored the least reduction at 10.2
C, the
difference between the ground temperature and the temperature
underneath the plant can exceed 15
C.
Even under conditions of identical plant height, leaf color, and
morphology, the temperature differences betweenplants were still
186 T.-C. Liu et al. / Energy and Buildings 47 (2012) 180188
Table 3
Thermal effect analysis for nine types of plants.
Zoysia
matrella.
Kalanchoe
garambiensis
Torilis japonica
(Houtt.) DC.
Bryophyllum
pinnatumLam.
Kurz
Rhoeo
spathaceo cv.
Compacta
Sedumlineare
cv. robustum
Ixora williamsii
cv.
Sansevieria
trifasciata cv.
Hahnii
Callisia
repens L.
L, Temp. Max 49.9 54.1 40.6 53.6 53.5 51.9 40.8 52.8 55.0
UL, Temp. Max 41.5 36.8 37.3 33.4 40.1 34.5 30.3 31.5 40.6
G, Temp. Max 54.0
D, Temp. Max 33.5
L, Temp. Min 31.2 33.3 26.8 32.6 32.1 30.0 29.7 34.4 34.4
UL, Temp. Min 20.2 24.2 22.7 24.4 25.7 21.0 24.0 22.8 28.9
G, Temp. Min 35.0
D, Temp. Min 27.1
L, Temp. Mean 42.1 46.1 35.8 44.7 44.4 42.8 36.8 45.6 46.7
UL, Temp. Mean 30.4 31.5 30.2 28.8 33.6 29.3 27.2 27.6 34.6
G, Temp. Mean 44.7
D, Temp. Mean 29.5
Max(L vs. UL) 21.0 23.2 11.3 23.9 16.2 22.9 13.9 26.7 18.1
Min(L vs. UL) 1.6 4.5 1.6 5.1 3.6 1.7 3.3 6.1 3.5
Mean(L vs. UL) 11.7 14.6 5.5 15.9 10.9 13.5 9.6 17.9 12.1
Max(G vs. UL) 27.3 23.9 20.8 23.7 15.3 25.9 26.3 27.1 16.5
Min(G vs. UL) 3.9 3.9 6.7 8.2 5.3 4.4 8.5 7.1 4.2
Mean(G vs. UL) 14.3 13.2 14.5 15.9 11.2 15.4 17.5 17.1 10.2
T test (L vs. UL)
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
T test (G vs. UL)
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
T test (D vs. UL)
*** *** *** *** ***
0.16
*** *** ***
Note: L, leaf, UL, underneath, G, ground, D, daily. Temperature difference test by using T test.
Max indicate the difference maximumtemperature with two measurements location.
Mix indicate the difference minimumtemperature with two measurements location.
Mean indicate the difference median temperature with two measurements location.
* p<0.05.
** p<0.01.
***
p<0.001.
very pronounced. Plant temperature is affected by many factors,
such as rate coverage, penetration rate, reection rate, absorption
rate, and evaporation rate. Based on our experiments, some plants
reduced roof-heat has been detected their representative charac-
teristics such as: B. pinnatum Lam. Kurz, I. williamsii cv., and S.
trifasciata cv. Hahnii, respectively.
Thus, the plant morphology, leaf composition, size, shape, angle,
and type all create varying inuence on each factor. This is why we
decided to perform an in situ experiment for common green roof
plants in Taiwan.
3.4. Thermal effect analysis for plant height
We measured the thermal effect on B. pinnatum with different
plant heights. The leaf surface temperatures were measured with
infrared thermal imagers (see Fig. 2(b)). Planar temperature data
were obtained using infrared data processing software from10:30
to 13:30 at a sampling interval of one minute, with a total of 181
records during each measurement.
The results are shown in Table 4 and Fig. 3(b). Leaf surface
temperature analysis indicates that for maximum, minimum, and
Table 4
Thermal effect analysis for Bryophyllumpinnatumof different heights.
H 35cm H 15cm H 10cm Ground temperature Daily temperature
L, Temp. Max 38.0 38.5 40.1
UL, Temp. Max 30.7 32.4 33.1 50.1 33.5
L, Temp. Min 20.2 22.9 24.7
UL, Temp. Min 23.8 27.2 27.6 37.3 28.2
L, Temp. Mean 29.7 31.8 33.6
UL, Temp. Mean 27.3 30.0 30.4 43.4 30.1
Max(L vs. UL) 13.84 8.66 8.92
Min(L vs. UL) 5.91 6.03 4.7
Mean(L vs. UL) 2.4 1.8 3.2
Max(G vs. UL) 22.88 18.75 17.93
Min(G vs. UL) 9.2 9.13 8.5
Mean(G vs. UL) 16.0 13.4 12.9
T test (L vs. UL)
*** *** ***
T test (G vs. UL)
*** *** ***
T test (D vs. UL)
***
0.20
**
T test 35 vs. 15 15 vs. 10 10 vs. 35
L
*** *** ***
UL
*** *** ***
Note: L, leaf, UL, underneath, G, ground, D, daily. Temperature difference test by using T test.
Max indicate the difference maximumtemperature with two measurements location.
Mix indicate the difference minimumtemperature with two measurements location.
Mean indicate the difference median temperature with two measurements location.
* p<0.05.
**
p<0.01.
***
p<0.001.
T.-C. Liu et al. / Energy and Buildings 47 (2012) 180188 187
(a)
(b)
(c)
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
1
0
:
3
0
1
0
:
4
5
1
1
:
0
0
1
1
:
1
5
1
1
:
3
0
1
1
:
4
5
1
2
:
0
0
1
2
:
1
5
1
2
:
3
0
1
2
:
4
5
1
3
:
0
0
1
3
:
1
5
1
3
:
3
0
1
3
:
4
5
1
4
:
0
0
1
4
:
1
5
1
4
:
3
0
1
4
:
4
5
1
5
:
0
0
S
u
r
f
a
c
e
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
C
me
Zoysia matrella.
Kalanchoe garambiensis
Torilis japonica Hou.
DC.
Bryophyllum
pinnatumLam.Kurz
Rhoeo spathaceo cv
Compacta
Sedum lineare
cv.'robustum'
Ixora williamsii cv.
Sansevieria trifasciata cv.
Hahnii
Callisia repens L
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
1
0
:
3
0
1
0
:
4
0
1
0
:
5
0
1
1
:
0
0
1
1
:
1
0
1
1
:
2
0
1
1
:
3
0
1
1
:
4
0
1
1
:
5
0
1
2
:
0
0
1
2
:
1
0
1
2
:
2
0
1
2
:
3
0
1
2
:
4
0
1
2
:
5
0
1
3
:
0
0
1
3
:
1
0
1
3
:
2
0
1
3
:
3
0
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
C
me
Average temp. underneath
the plant with a 35 cm
height
Average temp. underneath
the plant with a 15 cm
height
Average temp. underneath
the plant with a 10 cm
height
ground temp.
daily temp.
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
1
0
:
3
0
1
0
:
4
0
1
0
:
5
0
1
1
:
0
0
1
1
:
1
0
1
1
:
2
0
1
1
:
3
0
1
1
:
4
0
1
1
:
5
0
1
2
:
0
0
1
2
:
1
0
1
2
:
2
0
1
2
:
3
0
1
2
:
4
0
1
2
:
5
0
1
3
:
0
0
1
3
:
1
0
1
3
:
2
0
1
3
:
3
0
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
C
Time
Average temp. underneath
the green leafed Ipomoea
batata
Average temp. underneath
the purple leafed Ipomoea
batata
daily temp.
ground temp.
Fig. 3. Variation against time on plant leaf surface temperature and temperature
beneath plants for (a) nine types of plants; (b) Bryophyllum pinnatum of different
plant heights; (c) Ipomoea batata of different leaf colors.
average leaf surface temperatures, the temperatures for plants with
heights of 35cmwere lower thanthose withheight of 15cm; which
was in turn lower than the temperatures fromplants with a 10cm
height. Taller plants have more leaves, which overlap each other to
reduce average leaf surface temperature. Leaf surface temperatures
for lower lying plants were correspondingly higher. The reason
is that while the leaves covered by other leaves, the upper-layer
leaves exposed to sunlight which are higher in surface tempera-
ture than that of the lower-layer leaves without exposing to full
sunlight conditions.
The temperature variation for B. pinnate at different heights is
large, withaveragetemperaturevariationof 15.2to16.5
C. Rooftop
ground temperature compared with the temperature beneath the
plant temperature also differed greatly. With an average plant
height of 35cm, the maximumdifference can reach 22.9
C and the
average temperature difference reached 16
C and 12.9
C, whichwas 4.2
Clower thantheaveragedailytem-
perature. The temperature underneath the purple leafed I. batata
was even higher than the leaf surface temperature. This proves
that the green I. batata exhibited the largest temperature differ-
ence between the temperature under the plant and the ground
temperature; indicating that it was best for lowering the ground
temperature (Fig. 3(c)).
Different tests between leaf surface temperature, temperature
underneath the plant, atmospheric temperature, and ground tem-
peratures all showed to be highly signicantly different (p<0.001).
When testing for the difference between green and purple leaves,
signicant differences were found between them(p<0.001), prov-
ingleaf color tobeanimportant factor intemperaturedifference. As
green I. batata leaves have higher reectivity than purple I. batata
leaves, they are benecial in lowering temperature. Through the
thermal ground experiments, it was shown that the green I. batata
188 T.-C. Liu et al. / Energy and Buildings 47 (2012) 180188
leaves reduce absorbed solar radiation energy better, by having
higher reectivity than purple I. batata leaves.
4. Conclusions
Through on-site testing, this study seeks plants that are suit-
able for thin layer green roof in Taiwan. The results indicate that
plants from CAM type families, Portulacaceae, Crassulaceae, and
Euphorbiaceae, are more droughts tolerant, and may survive for
long periods without watering by humans. They are suitable for
thin layer green roofs in subtropical climates, and survive solely
by natural rainfall on rooftop conditions in Taiwan. The results
of this study show that temperature reduction effects decrease
with plant height in the following pattern: 35cm>15cm>10cm.
The results also indicate that plants with green colored leaves are
more effective in rooftop heat insulation. When green engineering
becomes a commonplace in cities, the plants may bring extremely
positive effects to the ecological environment [12]. Many cities in
western countries have realized their own potential for greening,
and have made urban greening a public activity through incentive
plans, laws, and promoting building standards. This study hopes
to jumpstart local green roof deployment by providing a reference
for design, and make the major cities in Taiwan eco-friendly green
cities.
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