Insect species composition and diversity on intensive green roofs and adjacent level-ground habitats

While it is expected that green roofs support a wider variety of insects compared with conventional roof surfaces, few studies have quantified insect diversity on green roofs. Even fewer have attempted to determine whether green roofs can support insect communities comparable to level-ground urban habitats. In this study, insect richness, abundance and diversity indices were compared between five pairs of intensive green roofs and adjacent ground-level habitat patches in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia. Pitfall traps were set at each site, collected bi-weekly between May-October 2009 and captured insects were identified to morphospecies (except where taxonomic expertise was available). No significant differences in richness, abundance or any of the indices (S, H’, E_var) were detected in analysis, which included plant species richness, site area and sampling effort as covariables. However, richness and abundance tended to be greater at ground level for all orders (except Heteroptera), and diversity appeared to increase away from the downtown core. Insect composition differed slightly between green roof and ground-level sites; only 17 species were collected from a single site type in numbers greater than five specimens. Nevertheless, a wide variety of insects, including many uncommon species were collected from green roofs, supporting the idea that these habitats can contribute to sustaining biodiversity in cities.