Human-managed and occupied ecosystems may mimic naturally occurring habitats, either spontaneously or by design. Understanding how communities of organisms assemble and use these novel spaces provides a key opportunity to understand, and potentially shape, the ecosystem functions and services delivered in human-dominated landscapes. For example, green roofs are a type of living architecture in which plants are intentionally grown on top of a human-built structure. Structurally analogous natural ecosystems are relatively rare, but some thin-soil environments can be found here in the Great Lakes Basin. As the natural habitats provide vital ecosystem functions, green roofs have the potential to provide urban areas with many services. Insects are the ideal focal taxa to examine for this project: in addition to their ubiquity, facilitating large scale data collection, insects play a variety of critical roles in ecosystem function and service, making them ideal sentinel organisms. The project focuses on characterizing insect communities and vegetation in green roof and natural thin soil environments to examine and quantify the services those insects provide (i.e. pollination, pest control, and decomposition). Characterizing the function and worth of insect services in natural and urban ecosystems is critical to supporting conservation decision-making in these human-managed ecosystems.