Sofia Flores is a PhD student in the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering at KU Leuven in Leuven, Belgium, under the supervision of Dr. Van Meerbeek. She is conducting her research in her home country at the Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina in Lima, Peru. Her research project explores the natural landscapes near the city of Lima, commonly known as “lomas,” to select native species (e.g. Atriplex rotundifolia, Begonia octopetala, Ismene amancaes, Nolana humifusa, Stenomesson flavum) adapted to these harsh environments and incorporate them into the urban green of the arid city of Lima. Her major research objectives are: 1) to determine the current state of urban green in Latin America and the research gaps, 2) to study the ecosystem of lomas and evaluate the performance of native species in green roofs, 3) to determine the current and future distribution of lomas species. Sofia is currently working on her last two objectives as the green roof is a long-term study. At the II International Symposium on Greener Cities: Improving Ecosystem Services in a Climate-Changing World (GreenCities2022), she presented the preliminary results of her green roof experiment. To start this study, she surveyed various lomas around Lima to collect native species and environmental data. After a period of growth and adaptation of about 4 months, the selected plants were transplanted into an extensive green roof, built at the university in Lima. This green roof is being irrigated at two different levels (high and low) and the performance of native plants is being compared with plants commonly used in green areas in Lima. Ten months later, the geophytic species grew out after their dormancy period and the growth of all plants was positively affected by the higher irrigation level. The number of flowers and new individuals did not vary significantly with irrigation, however, they were influenced by the plant type because some native species had abundant flowers. Although native plants displayed a few symptoms of dehydration in the low-irrigation plots, they are growing just like the common plants, demonstrating so far that it is possible to integrate them into the urban green of Lima.
Sofia Flores won the ISHS Young Minds Award for the best oral presentation at the II International Symposium on Greener Cities: Improving Ecosystem Services in a Climate-Changing World (GreenCities2022) at IHC2022 in France in August 2022.
Sofia Flores, sGlobe lab, Forest Nature and Landscape, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, 3001 Leuven, Belgium, e-mail: sofiajesus.floresvivar@kuleuven.be, web: https://www.sglobelab.com/
The article is available in Chronica Horticulturae