- September 25, 2017 - Jardin botanique : Favourites, Secrets of plants
On the occasion of the 14th International Phytotechnologies Conference, held in Montréal in 2017, 300 international experts was getting together to discuss phytotechnologies. It’s not by chance that Montréal was chosen as the host city: the team from the Jardin botanique de Montréal and the Institut de recherche en biologie végétale (IRBV) is a leader in the field. Researcher Jacques Brisson presents the second instalment in an overview of phytotechnologies.*
In addition to their purifying and restorative powers, plants air-condition, filter air, decrease noise, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and control erosion. By what means, or phytotechnologies, are researchers succeeding in taking advantage of these “powers”? Here are three examples:
Green roofs
As an alternative to conventional roofs, a plant substrate helps lessen air-conditioning needs in summer and reduces the amount of rainwater running off the roof to sewers. Moreover, it lessens heat island effects and contributes to the preservation of urban biodiversity. This technology is not new (green roofs have existed in Scandinavia for hundreds of years), but it’s enjoying a growing worldwide popularity. And Québec is no exception.
The Jardin botanique’s Biodiversity Centre has been fitted with a green roof, and the Planétarium Rio tinto Alcan prides itself on being crowned by one of the biggest green roofs in Québec.
Plant walls
They’re varied, and range from simple windbreak hedges protecting crops against cold winds or keeping blowing snow off highways, to complex structures of planted willows that have noise-reduction properties. Plant walls can also take the form of module plates or climbing-plant covers applied to building walls, where they also serve as thermal insulation.
Soil stabilization
Through the tangling of their roots, plants help keep soil in place and prevent erosion, especially in areas with steep slopes like certain streambanks or roadsides.
Active continuing research
Our teams are currently involved in a number of concrete phytotechnology projects. Inaugurated at the Biodiversity Centre in the fall of 2016, the Phytotechnology NSERC/Hydro-Québec Industrial Research Chair has made it possible to invest in projects that will lead to an expansion of scientific knowledge. Its goal: to limit erosion and the colonization of unwanted plants on electric power lines and to find plants that are good candidates for the decontamination of sites where electricity poles are stored.
Ultimately, we hope that this work will lend itself to the transfer of phytotechnology to other environmental contexts and its application there.
Thanks to Danielle Dagenais, professor and specialist in plants and phytotechnology at Université de Montréal’s School of Landscape Architecture, for her collaboration in writing the text.
Learn more about the Jardin botanique’s Pathway to Phytotechnologies.
Discover other phytotechnologies: “Look out: plants at work, part 1”
*This text is an adaptation of an article that appeared in the journal Quatre-Temps, Spring 2011 (vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 11-12), with the consent of the authors.
Jacques Brisson is a researcher at IRBV and holder of the Phytotechnology NSERC/Hydro-Québec Industrial Research Chair. He and his colleagues from IRBV and the Jardin botanique de Montréal – Mohamed Hijri, Michel Labrecque, Frédéric Pitre and Marc St-Arnaud – make up one of the most important phytotechnology research groups in the world.
