Development of a moss database based on ecological indicator values as a tool for urban greening planning

Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, vol. 8

Abstract

The present work is located in the field of urban greening and focuses on vertical greening with mosses on building facades. For this purpose, a database-supported approach was developed to determine the cultivation requirements of mosses on the basis of the Ellenberg system of ecological indicator values, whereby an existing classification of mosses by Düll and Düll-Wunder was used and transferred to a Microsoft ® Access database. The database enables differentiated filtering according to botanical and German name, moss types (deciduous moss or liverwort) as well as individual or combined indicator values of the categories light, temperature, continentality, moisture and reaction on a scale of 1–9 and can be extended by additional information such as image material as well as by the integration of further species; the database currently comprises moss-specific indicator values of 510 mosses. Various applications have been tested to derive cultivation requirements, including the statistical evaluation of the overall distribution according to ecological indicator values as well as practical functions such as the identification of optimal environmental conditions for certain moss species and the selection of suitable species for given site conditions. Overall, the database provides a method to support greening approaches with mosses by enabling the identification of suitable sites and the development of technical systems or substrates that provide optimal conditions for specific species, while allowing a data-driven selection of suitable moss species for defined greening sites.

Authors 4

1. Melanie Eiting corresponding

   Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT

   Affiliation as printed

   Department Carbon Utilization and Mineralization, Group Building Materials, Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT

2. Holger Wack

   Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT

   Affiliation as printed

   Department Carbon Utilization and Mineralization, Group Building Materials, Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT

3. Christa Reicher Aachen Institute for Urban Design and European Urbanism Studies Faculty of Architecture

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Urban Design and European Urbanism Studies, Faculty of Architecture, RWTH Aachen University

4. Nicole Pfoser

   Nürtingen-Geislingen University of Applied Science

   Affiliation as printed

   Landscape Architecture Degree Program, Faculty of Environmental Design Therapy, Nürtingen-Geislingen University of Applied Sciences