Here we go!

Last Thursday, May 29th, we set up our green roof experiment on the terrace garden of the Quinlan Life Sciences building! It's not quite a green roof, the roof is tiled, but it gets a lot of sun and is elevated (its on the 5th floor) so it mimics a green roof quite nicely.

Here are some pictures of the green roof once we set it up (it took about 2.5 hours to move all the trays from IES to the balcony!).

Green roof experiment

Today, Sarah, Kelly and I began to take data on the plants (height, width, density, notes on how it appeared). If I didn't have a farmer's tan already, I definitely do now! Soon, we will start to take data on the soil conditions (soil stability, soil organic matter, soil nutrient availability, moisture, temperature, etc.)

Our green roof in its urban setting!

Additionally, Sarah and I have decided on our own projects for the rest of our internship. I will be focusing on whether green roofs planted with native prairie plants or a non-native sedum mix are better at retaining storm water and insulating heat. I will be working with Dr. Chaudhary, Sarah, and Kelly to set up devices that will record the temperature hourly in hopes of identifying a difference in temperatures throughout the plants and tiles. I am still researching methods on how to measure storm water retention. More to come later! 

Also, we met with Katrina and are feeling a little bit better about soil nutrient analysis methods on the IC pro. We are hoping to set up some sort of training with someone who works for the company to get us off in the right direction. We are continuing to research methods for cation and anion extraction from a soil solution. Also more to come! 

Have a good week!