The extensive green facade as a means of production and recovery of biodiversity in urban highland areas of Ecuador

Abstract

Green infrastructures have great potential to promote a productive system, which allows the development of a circular metabolism, as well as the protection and conservation of a biodiversity part. The present observation-based study seeks to analyze the potential productive and biodiversity benefits of a "traditional" extensive green wall located in Conocoto parish in Quitós city, Ecuador. For this purpose, the characteristics of the environment, the plant, and the conditions of its development are described in detail. The results provide recommendations for the design, maintenance, and application of extensive green walls in neotropical mountain climatic conditions, through the use of endemic Andean plants of a productive type, in this case the Passiflora mollisima, also commonly called "Taxo".