PUBLISHED RESEARCH PAPERS

Evaluating Rehabilitation Practices to Inform Invasion Resistance in Designed Urban Meadows
Landscape and Urban Planning – September, 2025
Efforts to restore urban green spaces (UGSs) aim to enhance benefits for both people and nature. Right-of-way (ROW) corridors, such as those beneath powerlines, offer key opportunities. By removing invasive species and introducing native plants through urban-adapted management practices, these spaces could become biodiverse UGSs in expanding cities. In this study we evaluate the effectiveness of invasive species management at The Meadoway, a ROW turned 16-km linear urban park underneath powerlines in Toronto, Canada.

Assessing the Effects of Mowing Intensity on the Overwintering Stem-dwelling Insect Community of Solidago altissima L. (Asterales: Asteraceae)
Royal Entomological Society – March 22, 2025
Mowing is a commonly used and necessary practice in the management of urban meadowscapes. However, mowing is also a source of mortality for insects in these meadowscapes. This study examined how changes in mowing intensity for mows performed in late fall affect overwintering stem-dwelling insects. It also generated more information on the spatial structure of the stem-dwelling insect community in these urban meadowscapes, both within individual stems and within the broader habitat.

Regulating and Supporting Ecosystem Services Provided by Urban Greenspace and Restored Meadows along a Hydro Corridor in Toronto
University of Toronto Civil and Mineral Engineering – June, 2022
The Meadoway project aims to restore 200 ha of meadow habitats along the Gatineau Hydro Corridor across Scarborough, Ontario. The hydro corridor’s transition from turf grass to deep-rooted native meadow plants is hypothesized to enhance regulating and supporting services. To evaluate this hypothesis, in-situ infiltration, penetrometer tests, and soil sampling were conducted on two pre-restored turf lands and two restored meadows in 2020. The meadow restoration altered soil structure and enhanced its runoff reduction and available water capacity, and decreased soil available phosphorus. The Meadoway can potentially enhance multiple ecosystem services including flood and erosion control, and soil quality and nutrient cycling regulation.

Enhanced Hydrological Regulating Services by Meadow Restoration Supported by Rainfall Simulation Tests
University of Toronto Civil and Mineral Engineering – April 13, 2022
One possible outcome of meadow restoration efforts in The Meadoway may be an improvement in the hydrological regulating service provided by the ecosystem along the hydro corridor. This report presents the methodology and results of rainfall simulation tests used to further explore the role of vegetation on infiltration and water balances.

The Meadoway Performance Assessment Project: A Systematic Review of Evaluation Methods for Ecosystem Services Provided by Urban Greenspace
University of Toronto Civil and Mineral Engineering – February 13, 2021
This report presents a systematic review to reveal the ecosystem services (ESs) provided by urban greenspace, their key performance indicators (KPIs), and the methods used to monitor them. This review aims to find ESs possibly delivered by The Meadoway, as well as KPIs and corresponding monitoring methods used to quantify/qualify these ESs to aid the establishment of an evaluation project for The Meadoway.

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