Salt tolerance of common green roof and green

wall plants
Leigh J. Whittinghill & D. Bradley Rowe
Published online: 22 February 2011
#
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011
Abstract Detrimental effects of road deicing salt on vegetation are well known and have
been well studied, with the exception of typical green roof plants, which could experience
damage on green roofs with public access and green walls near roadways in cold climates.
Two studies were conducted comparing salt tolerance of five Sedum species, two Allium
species and a mixture of turf grasses when exposed to six levels of salinity applied either as
foliar spray or as liquid applications to the soil. A third study compared salt tolerance when
plants were placed at three distances from a major highway. Response variables measured
included survival, a health score from 0 to 5, and a growth index. Allium cernuum, A.
senscens and S. ellecombianum were relatively tolerant of both saline spray and soil
inundation at high saline concentrations in terms of survival, mean health scores,
percentage of healthy plants and growth index. Sedum reflexum was much less tolerant of
saline spray at higher salinity concentrations and soil inundation regardless of salinity
levels. Distance from the road had no effect on plant survival rates but plants farthest from
the road had higher mean health scores and a greater percentage of healthy plants than
plants closer to the highway.
Keywords Green roof
.
Green wall
.
Salt tolerance
.
Sedum
.
Allium
Introduction
In colder climates it is often necessary to prevent ice formation and encourage melting on
roadways and public walkways. The most common deicing material is sodium chloride
(Berkheimer et al. 2006), but mixes containing sodium chloride, calcium chloride,
magnesium chloride, calcium magnesium acetate, potassium acetate, and agricultural bi-
products are also used (TRBNA 2007). The amount of deicing salt used in a given location
depends on latitude, altitude (Thompson et al. 1986), severity of weather conditions
Urban Ecosyst (2011) 14:783794
DOI 10.1007/s11252-011-0169-4
L. J. Whittinghill (*)
:
D. B. Rowe
Department of Horticulture, Michigan State University, A212 Plant and Soil Sciences Building,
East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
e-mail: whitti18@msu.edu
(TRBNA 2007); Thompson et al. 1986), and the expected traffic on roadways (Berkheimer
et al. 2006). Recommended application rates vary from 7 to 36 kglane-km
1
for light ice
and 21110 kglane-km
1
for freezing rain (0.3821.968 gm
2
and 1.1486.014 gm
2
,
respectively), requiring approximately 21,080,000 tonnes (22,291,000 tons) of sodium
chloride (NaCl) annually in North America (TRBNA 2007). Of this salt applied, an
estimated 20%30% is transferred to road edges and median strips elevating soil salt
concentrations (Paludan-Mller et al. 2002; Pedersen et al. 2000).
Exposing plants to deicing salt may result in damage including necrosis, chlorophyll
degradation (Eom et al. 2007), early autumn coloring, and witches broom structures
(Pedersen et al. 2000). Injured plant tissues may have as much as 75 times more sodium
than healthy tissues (Bryson and Barker 2002) which continues to accumulate as salt
concentrations in plant tissues or soils increase over many seasons (Berkheimer et al. 2006;
Berkheimer and Hanson 2006). This accumulation is possible because many plant species
have no mechanism for removing salts that have accumulated in their tissues (Munns
2002).
Road deicing salt is transferred to roadside ecosystems through two main processes.
Saline solution can be deposited on roadside plants through spray from vehicle wheels
(Herrick 1988; Paludan-Mller et al. 2002; Pedersen et al. 2000; Thompson et al. 1986)
and wind (Berkheimer et al. 2006) or it can enter roadside soil from run-off or plowed
snow (Herrick 1988; Paludan-Mller et al. 2002; Pedersen et al. 2000; Thompson et al.
1986). It has been demonstrated that these two types of salt exposure do not interact
(Thompson and Rutter 1986) and have different effects on plant life surrounding
roadways. Soil salinity tends to result in plant decline and death, while exposure to saline
spray results in dieback, sometimes followed by regrowth (Herrick 1988; Thompson and
Rutter 1986)
Patterns of injury due to saline spray are consistent with wind movements (Berkheimer
et al. 2006) with the majority of damage appearing on the side of the plant facing the
roadway (Bryson and Barker 2002). Increasing salt exposure due to spray can result in
increased floral bud mortality, decreased floral bud cold hardiness (Berkheimer and Hanson
2006), delayed bud break, reduction in the number of buds that break (Paludan-Mller et al.
2002), reduction in dry weight, increased shoot death (Thompson and Rutter 1986) and
burning or browning of needles (Bryson and Barker 2002). These types of damage from
salt spray can be seen up to 100 m from the roadway (Berkheimer and Hanson 2006),
although little is known about the height salt spray achieves. Much of this damage is caused
by salt spray forming a residue on leaves and bark of plants. This residue differs in
concentration depending on the amount of salt spray exposure, the amount of and type of
plant tissue exposed, salinity of the spray, and the amount of precipitation which dilutes or
washes off salts (Berkheimer and Hanson 2006; Paludan-Mller et al. 2002; Thompson and
Rutter 1986).
Increasing soil salinity increases floral bud mortality (Berkheimer and Hanson 2006),
delays bud break, reduces gas exchange, causes premature chlorosis, and decreases leaf
number and area (Paludan-Mller et al. 2002). The extent and type of damage varies among
plant species and tissue type. The introduction of sodium chloride solution to soil causes an
increase in the concentration of sodium and chlorine in plant tissues, which is higher in
leaves than other plant tissues (Paludan-Mller et al. 2002). In contrast, ion concentrations
of root tissues tend to increase less over time and recover faster (Munns 2002). This is
dependent on the occurrence of plasmolysis and exclusion or inclusion of ions in the
transpiration stream (Munns 2002). There is some dispute as to which form of exposure is
most damaging, because soil salinity causes heavy damage close to the roadway while the
784 Urban Ecosyst (2011) 14:783794
damage caused by salt spray can be seen over a larger area (Berkheimer and Hanson 2006;
Bryson and Barker 2002; Pedersen et al. 2000; Thompson et al. 1986).
The exposure of rooftop vegetation to deicing salt may be limited to vegetative roofs
which are open to the public during winter and those near elevated roadways and
overpasses. The application of salt to walkways on green roofs for the safety of the public
and building maintenance personnel results in saline runoff. The impact of saline spray
from roadways has not yet been documented, and would require more site specific
information about the proximity of the roof to major roadways and the height salt spray
achieves when leaving the roadway. Green roofs experiencing salt stress would likely not
provide the optimal level of benefits usually associated with green roofs, such as
stormwater retention, energy savings, reductions in Urban Heat Island, and carbon
sequestration (Alexandri and Jones 2008; Getter and Rowe 2006; Getter et al. 2007,
2009; Sailor 2008; VanWoert et al. 2005; Wong et al. 2007).
The potential impact of salt on green walls is even greater. Green walls on buildings in
urban areas and those serving as sound barriers along major roadways in northern climates
would be exposed to large amounts of deicing salt during the winter months. Should this
have a large adverse effect on the survival of the vegetation used, it could also reduce
potential benefits, such as the reduction in urban canyon temperatures projected by
Alexandri and Jones (2008). Differing levels of tolerance could influence the spatial
placement of plants horizontally on a green roof or vertically up a green wall. Although the
impacts of salt stress on roadside vegetation and crops near major roadways has been well
studied (Berkheimer and Hanson 2006; Berkheimer et al. 2006; Bryson and Barker 2002;
Paludan-Mller et al. 2006; Thompson and Rutter 1986; Thompson et al. 1986), little
research has been done on the effects of road deicing salt on common green roof species.
Therefore, our objective was to evaluate several plant species commonly used in green
roofs and green walls for foliar and soil salt tolerance.
Materials and methods
Seven common green roof species (Sedum ellecombianum, S. floriferum Weihenstephaner
Gold, S. kamtschaticum, S. spurium Dragons Blood, S. reflexum, Allium cernuum and
A. senescens subsp. Montanum and a turfgrass mixture were established on a gravel nursery
container pad during August 2008 at the Michigan State University Horticulture Teaching
and Research Center (HTRC), East Lansing, Michigan. Allium senescens, S. ellecombia-
num, S. floriferum, and S. kamtschaticum (38 cells/flat) and S. spurium, and S. reflexum (50
cells/flat)(Hortech Inc., Spring Lake, MI) were planted from plugs into 8.9 cm (3.5 in) pots
in a proprietary organic nursery media (Hortech, Inc, Spring Lake, MI). Allium cernuum
was planted from bare root bulbs (Hortech, Inc., Spring Lake, MI) and Scotts Pure
Premium High Performance Heat-tolerant Blue Grass Seed Mixture (The Scotts Company
LLC, Marysville, OH) (39.25% Greenkeeper WAF tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea),
24.61% Dynasty tall fescue, 24.38% ultimate tall fescue, 9.75% thermal blue Kentucky
bluegrass (Poa pratensis)), hereafter referred to as turf grass, was seeded into 8.9 cm
(3.5 in) pots in the same media. The turf grass was included for relative comparisons as turf
is frequently damaged by salt applications in the landscape. Plants were irrigated as needed
and were divided for use in three studies on December 17, 2008. Plants for the salt spray
study and soil inundation study remained outdoors on the gravel nursery container pad at
the HTRC. Plants for the roadside study were placed at three distances from Interstate 96 at
the north end of the HTRC.
Urban Ecosyst (2011) 14:783794 785
Salt spray study Five members of each plant species were assigned to one of 6 treatments of 0,
10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 gL
1
NaCl solution. The study was a completely randomized design
with a total of 240 plants. The first treatment was applied on January 11, 2009. A Flo-Master
Premium Home and Garden Sprayer was used to apply approximately 4.5 mL of the
appropriate treatment to each plant. This amount was used because it resulted in runoff in
most of the plants. A plastic shield was used to prevent spray from reaching neighboring
plants. Four subsequent treatments followed at three week intervals on February 1, February
22, March 15, and April 4, 2009. Accumulated snow was removed by hand from the study
grid to expose plant stems and leaves before each treatment application.
Soil inundation study Five members of each plant species were assigned to one of six
treatments using the same concentrations of NaCl solution as the salt spray study. The study
was a completely randomized design with a total of 240 plants. The soil of each pot was
hand watered with 50 mL of the appropriate treatment, avoiding direct contact between
plant tissues and the treatment solution, following the same treatment schedule as the salt
spray study. Accumulated snow was removed by hand from the study grid to expose soil in
each pot before each treatment application.
Roadside study Five members of each plant species were randomly assigned to one of three
distances from Interstate 96. The study was a completely randomized design with a total of
40 plants in each treatment and placed 18.8, 38.3, and 57.6 m (61.8, 125.7, and 189 ft) from
the roadway. Unlike the salt spray and soil inundation studies, no snow was removed from
the pants during this study. Plants were removed from the roadside on April 4, 2009.
Data collection and analysis Three criteria were used to determine the ability of the eight
species to tolerate road deicing salt. Survival was determined by the presence of living plant
tissue. Plant health was scored using a number scale (0 = death, 1 = greater than 75%
damaged, 2 = 50%75% damage, 3 = 25%49% damage, 4 = less than 25% damage, and 5
= no apparent damage to the plant). All heath assessments were performed by the same
individual to minimize variation in assessment. Plants with a health classification of 4 or 5
were labeled healthy. Growth measures of height at the tallest point and width at the widest
point in two directions (left to right and front to back) were also measured. The height and
width measurements were then used to calculate the plant volume index (height width 1
width 2) which was used in analysis. These measurements were taken on May 10, 7 and 13,
2009 for the salt spray control, soil inundation control and roadside studies respectively.
Mean plant survival rates, mean health scores and percentage of healthy plants, in all
treatments and species combination were compared using LSD with treatment and species
as fixed effects (PROC MIXED, SAS version 9.1, SAS Institute, Cary, NC). Mean volume
indexes of all treatment and species combinations were compared using LSD with treatment
and species as fixed effects (PROC MIXED, SAS version 9.1, SAS Institute, Cary, NC).
This was repeated for each of the three studies.
Results
Salt spray study Salt spray did not affect (p>0.05) survival rates of A. cernuum, A.
senescens, S. ellecombianum, S. kamtschaticum and turf grass (Table 1). Survival rates of S.
floriferum and S. spurium were lower in treatments greater than 40 gL
1
and 20 gL
1
,
786 Urban Ecosyst (2011) 14:783794
respectively (Table 1). Survival of S. reflexum was lower than all other species except S.
spurium at treatments of 30 gL
1
or higher (Table 1).
There were no differences among mean health scores of A. cernuum, A. senescens, and
S. ellecombianum across or within treatment levels (Fig. 1). Health scores of these species
were greater than those of all other species at treatment levels of 30 gL
1
and higher. No
differences existed between the health scores of S. floriferum and S. kamtschaticum within
any treatment level; however the decline in health score was more gradual for S. floriferum
than that of S. kamtschaticum (Fig. 1). For spray treatments of 20 gL
1
or less the health
scores of S. spurium were not different from those of S. floriferum or S. kamtschaticum,
however, scores decreased below those of S. floriferum or S. kamtschaticum between 20
and 40 gL
1
(Fig. 1). Sedum reflexum and turf grass have lower health scores than all other
species under the control treatment, however, turf grass did not differ across spray
treatments, while S. reflexum declined between the control and 20 gL
1
(Fig. 1). Health
scores of S. reflexum did not differ from zero in treatments of 20 gL
1
or greater and those
of S. spurium did not differ from zero in treatments of 40 gL
1
or greater.
Data for the percentage of healthy plants generally mirrored the results for health scores
as A. cernuum, A. senecens, S. ellecombianum, S reflexum and turf grass showed similar
patterns (data not presented). In contrast S. kamtschaticum declined sharply between the
control and 10 gL
1
and again between the 30 and 40 gL
1
treatments. Sedum spurium
was not adversely affected at application rates below 30 gL
1
but no S. spurium plants
were healthy at treatments greater than 30 gL
1
.
A lack of fit test showed no significant effect of the species by treatment interaction on
mean volume index (F=0.79005, p=0.78413, =0.05), so the term was excluded from the
model. Both species of Allium had higher mean volume indexes than all Sedum species and
turf grass, with that of A. cernuum higher than that of A. senescens (Fig. 2). Sedum reflexum
and S. spurium exhibited lower volume indexes than the other species, with S. reflexum
smaller than S. spurium, but not different from turf grass (Fig. 2). Volume indexes generally
decreased with increasing salt concentrations (Fig. 3). The control treatment was higher
than those at 40 gL
1
and 50 gL
1
, which was lower than those of all other treatments
(Fig. 3).
Table 1 Survival rates (%) of green roof plants exposed to six concentrations of NaCl spray
0 10 20 30 40 50
Allium cernuum 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a
Allium senescens 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a
Sedum ellecombianum 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a
Sedum floriferum 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 80 AB a 60 B bc
Sedum kamtschaticum 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 80 A ab
Sedum reflexum 60 A b 40 AB b 0 C b 40 AB b 0 C b 20 BC d
Sedum spurium 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 40 B b 20 B b 40 B cd
Turf grass 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a
Capital letters denote differences among salinity levels within species and lower case letters denote
differences among species within salinity levels. Mean separation by LSD at 95% confidence interval. Each
row of each column represents 5 observations
Urban Ecosyst (2011) 14:783794 787
Species Applied salt solution (gL
1
)
Soil inundation study Survival rates of A. cernuum, A. senescens, S. ellecombianum and
turf grass were not different at any treatment level (Table 2). Although survival of S.
floriferum and S. kamtschaticum was as high in treatments of 10 gL
1
or less, they
decreased under higher treatments (Table 2). For S. spurium the control was greater than
that of all other treatments (Table 2). For all treatment levels there were clear differences
between those species with high survival rates and those with low survival rates.
Allium cernuum, A. senescens and S. ellecombianum exhibited higher health scores than
all other species at 50 gL
1
, but A. senescens and S. ellecombianum differed from the
control in only the 40 and 50 gL
1
treatments, respectively, while A. cernuum gradually
declined in health (Fig. 4). Although health scores of S. floriferum and S. kamtschaticum
Treatment (g*L
-1
NaCl)
0 10 20 30 40 50
M
e
a
n

H
e
a
l
t
h

S
c
o
r
e
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Allium cernuum
Allium senescens
Sedum ellecombianum
Sedum floriferum
Sedum kamtschaticum
Sedum reflexum
Sedum spurium
turf grass
Fig. 1 Mean health scores of
green roof plants exposed to six
concentrations of NaCl spray.
Error bars represent the 95%
confidence interval. Each symbol
represents 5 observations
A
l
l
i
u
m

c
e
r
n
u
u
m
A
l
l
i
u
m

s
e
n
e
s
c
e
n
s
S
e
d
u
m

e
l
l
e
c
o
m
b
i
a
n
u
m
S
e
d
u
m

f
l
o
r
i
f
e
r
u
m
S
e
d
u
m

k
a
m
t
s
c
h
a
t
i
c
u
m
S
e
d
u
m

r
e
f
l
e
x
u
m
S
e
d
u
m

s
p
u
r
i
u
m

t
u
r
f

g
r
a
s
s
M
e
a
n

V
o
l
u
m
e

I
n
d
e
x

(
c
m
3
)
Speies
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
a
b
cd
c
d
f e
f
Fig. 2 Mean volume indexes
averaged over salt spray treat-
ments. Letters indicate significant
differences. Error bars represent
the 95% confidence interval.
Each bar represents 30
observations
788 Urban Ecosyst (2011) 14:783794
were not different from those of the Allium species under the control treatment, they
decreased between the control and 20 gL
1
and 10 and 30 gL
1
, respectively (Fig. 4).
Sedum spurium and turf grass exhibited poorer health than all other species, except S.
reflexum under the control treatment (Fig. 4). The mean health score of S. spurium
decreased between the control and 20 gL
1
to equal that of S. reflexum, while turf grass
maintained a relatively constant mean health score, decreasing below the control only at
50 gL
1
. The health scores of S. reflexum under all treatments, S. floriferum and S. spurium
at 20 gL
1
and higher, and S. kamtschaticum at 30 gL
1
did not differ from zero.
As in the salt spray study, percentage of healthy plants were similar except that health
scores and percentage of healthy plants of S. kamtschaticum and S. spurium decreased more
rapidly at treatments of 20 gL
1
and 10 gL
1
or greater, respectively. Turf grass exhibited
no healthy plants under any treatment and was therefore not different than S. reflexum,
unlike the differences present in the mean health scores.
Table 2 Survival rates (%) of green roof plants in response soil inundation with six concentrations of salt
solution
0 10 20 30 40 50
Allium cernuum 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 80 A a
Allium senescens 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 80 A a 100 A a
Sedum ellecombianum 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a
Sedum floriferum 100 A a 80 A a 20 BC c 40 B b 20 BC b 0 C b
Sedum kamtschaticum 100 A a 100 A a 60 B b 0 C c 20 C b 20 C b
Sedum reflexum 20 A b 0 A c 0 A c 0 A c 0 A b 0 A b
Sedum spurium 80 A a 40 B b 0 C c 0 C c 0 C b 0 C b
Turf grass 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a 100 A a
Capital letters denote differences among salinity levels within species and lower case letters denote
differences among species within salinity levels. Mean separation by LSD at 95% confidence interval. Each
row of each column represents 5 observations
Treatment (g*L
-1

NaCl)
0 10 20 30 40 50
M
e
a
n

V
o
l
u
m
e

I
n
d
e
x

(
c
m
3
)
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
a
ab
ab
ab
c
b
Fig. 3 Mean volume indexes for
all salt spray treatments averaged
over species. Letters indicate sig-
nificant differences. Error bars
represent the 95% confidence
interval. Each bar represents 30
observations
Urban Ecosyst (2011) 14:783794 789
Species Applied salt solution (gL
1
)
Allium senescens was the only species tested which exhibited no decrease in volume index with
increasing salinity (Fig. 5). All other species analyzed except S. spurium exhibited a slow
decline with increasing salinity (Fig. 5). There were no differences between the volume indexes of
the Allium species or the largest Sedum species, S. ellecombianum, under any treatment level (Fig. 5).
Sedum ellecombianum was larger than S. floriferum at 10, 30 and 50 gL
1
, and S. kamtschaticum at
30 gL
1
or greater (Fig. 5). Volume indexes of turf grass did not differ from those of S. floriferum or S.
kamtschaticum under treatments greater than 10 gL
1
(Fig. 5).
Road side study Lack of fit tests determined that the species by distance from the roadway
interaction had no significant effect on plant survival (p>0.5,), mean health score (p=>0.5),
and percentage of healthy plants (p>0.5). Distance from the road did not affect plant
survival (p>0.5). Therefore, statistical models for these variables were simplified to exclude
these effects. There were no differences in survival between any species, except S. reflexum,
which exhibited a lower survival rate (Table 3). Sedum ellecombianum exhibited a higher
Treatment (g*L
-1
NaCl)
0 10 20 30 40 50
M
e
a
n

H
e
a
l
t
h

S
c
o
r
e
-1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Allium cernuum
Allium senescens
Sedum ellecombianum
Sedum floriferum
Sedum kamtschaticum
Sedum reflexum
Sedum spurium
turf grass
Fig. 4 Mean health scores in
response to soil inundation with
salt solution. Error bars represent
the 95% confidence interval.
Each symbol represents 5
observations
Treatment (g*L
-1

NaCl)
0 10 20 30 40 50
M
e
a
n

V
o
l
u
m
e

I
n
d
e
x

(
c
m
3
)
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
Allium cernuum
Allium senescens
Sedum ellecombianum
Sedum floriferum
Sedum kamtschaticum
Sedum reflexum
Sedum spurium
turf grass
Fig. 5 Mean volume indexes in
response to soil inundation with
salt solution. Error bars represent
the 95% confidence interval for
the transformed data. Each
symbol represents 5 observations
790 Urban Ecosyst (2011) 14:783794
mean health score than any other species (Table 3). Sedum spurium was less healthy than all
other species except S. reflexum and turf grass, which were not as healthy as S. spurium, but
not different from each other (Table 3). Mean health scores at distances of 18.8, 37.5, and
56.9 m from the roadway were 3.0, 3.2, and 3.4, respectively. Health scores at 18.8 and
56.9 m were significantly different from each other. Sedum reflexum, S. spurium, and turf
grass had fewer healthy plants than all other species examined, which were not different from
each other (Table 3). The percentage of healthy plants 56.9 m from the roadway (70%) was
higher than those of plants at either 18.8 or 37.5 m from the roadway (50 and 60%,
respectively).
Distance from the roadway did not affect mean volume indexes of any species except S.
reflexum and turf grass (Table 4). The volume index for S. reflexum was lowest at 56.9 m
from the highway, whereas this value for turf grass was highest at a distance of 37.5 m.
There were no differences between the volume indexes of the Allium species at distances
from the roadway greater than 18.8 m, however the volume of A. senescens was not
Table 3 Survival rates (%), mean health scores and percentage of healthy plants for Alliums, Sedums, and a
mixture of turf grasses subjected to varying levels of salt spray when placed at three distances from a
highway
Species Survival rate (%) Mean health score Healthy plants (%)
Allium cernuum 90 a 3.7 b 90 a
Allium senescens 100 a 4.1 b 90 a
Sedum ellecombianum 100 a 4.7 a 100 a
Sedum floriferum 100 a 3.9 b 90 a
Sedum kamtschaticum 100 a 3.9 b 80 a
Sedum reflexum 60 b 1.1 d 0 b
Sedum spurium 100 a 3.1 c 20 b
Turf grass 100 a 1.3 d 0 b
Letters denote differences by LSD among species at the 95% confidence interval. Each row of each column
represents 30 observations
Table 4 Mean volume indexes for Alliums, Sedums, and a mixture of turf grasses subjected to varying levels
of salt spray when placed at three distances from a highway
Species Distance from roadway (m)
18.8 37.5 56.9
Allium cernuum 4,138 A a 3,818 A a 3,004 A a
Allium senescens 877 A b 1,707 A ab 2,076 A ab
Sedum ellecombianum 293 A c 343 A c 313 A c
Sedum floriferum 891 A b 1,041 A b 842 A bc
Sedum kamtschaticum 583 A bc 371 A c 494 A c
Sedum reflexum 13 A e 13 A e 1 B f
Sedum spurium 54 A d 76 A d 112 A d
Turf grass 1 B f 12 A e 4 B e
Capital letters denote differences among salinity levels within species and lower case letters denote
differences among species within salinity levels. Mean separation by LSD at 95% confidence interval. Each
row of each column represents 5 observations
Urban Ecosyst (2011) 14:783794 791
different from that of S. kamtschaticum at any distance nor that of S. floriferum at 18.8 m
from the roadway (Table 4). Sedum floriferum exhibited a higher volume indexes than all
other Sedums at 18.8 and 37.5 m from the roadway with the exception of S. kamtschaticum
at 18.8 m (Table 4). Volume indexes of S. ellecombianum and S. kamtschaticum did not
differ at any distance from the roadway and no difference between the volume indexes of
these two species and S. floriferum at 56.9 m (Table 4). Volume indexes of S. spurium were
lower than these Sedums but higher than those of S. reflexum at all distances (Table 4).
Volume indexes of turf grass were lower than those of all Sedum species at all distances
from the roadway except that of S. reflexum at 56.9 m (Table 4).
Discussion
In general, results of both the salt spray and the soil inundation studies are in agreement with
results of previous studies on the effects of deicing salt on roadside vegetation. When exposed to
salt spray, the majority of damage was observed in the formof reduced health and biomass of the
plants under treatments of higher salinity and little effect was seen on survival of the plants.
These measures reflect damage such as leaf discoloration (Bryson and Barker 2002), reduced
bud break (Paludan-Mller et al. 2002), and dieback (Herrick 1988; Thompson and Rutter
1986) attributed to salt spray exposure in the literature. Plants in the soil inundation study also
exhibited declines in health and biomass with increasing salinity of treatment, consistent with
some forms of damage from salt uptake, such as premature chlorosis and fewer and smaller
leaves (Paludan-Mller et al. 2002). The significant decreases in survival rates with increasing
salinity of treatment observed in most species in this study in contrast to little change in
survival rates in the salt spray study support the conclusions make by Herrick (1988) and
Thompson and Rutter (1986), that soil salinity leads to plant death more frequently than salt
spray. Results of the roadside study, which showed little change in survival, also support this
theory, given that even the closest treatment to the road (18.8 m) was not affected by saline
runoff due to the presence of a drainage ditch between the plants and the road. The increase in
plant health observed at the farthest distance from the road is also consistent with the notion
that distance from the salt source affects the amount of salt plants are exposed to (Bryson and
Barker 2002; Herrick 1988; Pedersen et al. 2000) and the amount of damage caused by salt
exposure (Berkheimer and Hanson 2006; Berkheimer et al. 2006).
Examination of the results of both the salt spray and the soil inundation studies show the
emergence of three groups of plant species; highly salt tolerant species, moderately salt
tolerant species and salt intolerant species. Highly salt tolerant species are those which
exhibited high survival rates, mean health scores, proportion of healthy plants and volume
indexes and little reduction in those values as salinity treatments increased. For the salt
spray study these include A. cernuum, A. senescens, and S. ellecombianum. These species
also showed the highest salt tolerance in the soil inundation study, however A. cernuum and
S. ellecombianum exhibited some decline in health and biomass under the treatments with
the greatest salinity. These plants could therefore be planted in areas exposed to high levels
of salt spray with little effect on aesthetics or coverage of the green roof or wall. Some
caution should however be taken in planting in areas that will experience very high
concentrations of deicing salts in runoff.
Moderately tolerant plant species showed relatively high survival rates, health scores,
proportions of healthy plants and volume indexes at low salinity treatments, but exhibited
declines in these values as the salinity of treatments increased. For the salt spray study S.
792 Urban Ecosyst (2011) 14:783794
floriferum, S. kamtschaticum, and S. spurium wouldbe includedinthis category. All showed
moderatesurvivalratesbuthadlowermeanhealthscoresandproportionsofhealthyplantsthanthosein
the highlysalt tolerant category. Theyalsoexhibitedclear declines insurvival andhealthas salinity
increased.Sedum floriferum and S. kamtschaticum showed similar trends in the soil inundation
study. In both cases the damage observed is consistent with that expected of moderately
tolerant species experiencing damage and mortality between 23 and 32 gL
1
(e.g. Eom et al.
2007; Thompson and Rutter 1986). Although these plants may be able to withstand moderate
levels of saline spray or runoff, knowledge of the extent of exposure and the salinity to which
the plants will be exposed should be gained before placing these plants in areas subject to
exposure to deicing salt in order to preserve green roof or green wall quality.
Salt intolerant species exhibited low survival rates, mean health scores, proportions of
healthy plants and mean volume indexes even at low levels of salinity. In the salt spray
study this group was limited to S. reflexum and turf grass, but includes S. spurium in the
soil inundation study. In the roadside study, the significantly lower survival of S. reflexum,
which was not significantly affected by distance from the roadway, points to a possible
compounding factor. Sedum reflexum has a comparable hardiness zone rating to the other
Sedums examined in the study (LiveRoof 2008), implying similar abilities to overwinter.
However, it has been shown that the overwintering success of plugs planted in the fall
increases with plug size (Getter and Rowe 2007). Sedum reflexum and S. spurium were
planted from much smaller plugs than most of the other species, which could have
contributed to their low survival rates, mean health score, and low proportions of healthy
plants. Until further examination of S. reflexum and S. spurium with different plug sizes has
been undertaken, it would not be advisable to plant these species in areas subject to deicing
salt exposure. The height achieved by saline spray from roads, should also be examined for
a better understanding of how high up a green wall salt intolerant species should be planted.
The results of this research also suggest the need to examine the tolerance of common
green roof and wall plants to ocean spray. Although this spray is also saline, the exposure
rates will differ greatly from those of road deicing salt. An understanding of how common
green roof plants tolerate ocean spray would improve their design and maintenance at
locations near bodies of salt water.
As the use of green roofs and green walls increases knowledge about how road deicing
salt will affect the plants used will be vital in maintaining both the aesthetic appeal and
functionality of such structures. This knowledge could prevent plant loss and subsequent
replacement in northern climates where the use of deicing salt is necessary to maintain the
safety of roads and public walkways. As shown by Alexandri and Jones (2008) green roofs
and green walls have much potential to reduce temperatures in urban centers, creating a
more pleasant and healthy environment. However, the ability of green roofs and walls to
provide such benefits as reduced urban temperatures depends on the health of the plants and
the amount of surface covered by this vegetation (Heilman et al. 1996).
Acknowledgements Special thanks to Hortech, Inc., Spring Lake, MI for donating all plant material, media
and pots for this experiment and the Michigan State University Horticultural Teaching and Research Center
for support.
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