Exploring plant species richness along the Tiber River within the city of Rome

Phytotaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 482 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-158
Author(s):  
SIMONA CESCHIN ◽  
GIOVANNI SALERNO
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Ecological Features ◽  
River Stretch ◽  
Tiber River ◽  
High Species Richness ◽  
The City

The Tiber River stretch crossing the metropolitan area of Rome (Italy) is regarded as one of the main biological corridors of the city, as it diversifies the urban landscape while contributing to the plant diversity. This paper aims to document the current plant richness occurring along the Tiber within the city by providing a comprehensive inventory of the spontaneous vascular flora and an overview of its composition, and structural, chorological and ecological features. This flora lists 493 species and it is characterized by: i) high species richness (more than 30% of Rome’s flora), ii) presence of species with naturalistic value, as rare or included in Red List IUCN categories, iii) high number of ruderal and multizonal species (including several aliens) that have well adapted to human disturbance, and have partially replaced the typical riverine plants, iv) wide spread of eutrophic aquatic species, and rarefaction of those species that are more sensitive to eutrophication and water pollution. The dataset and the overview reported in this study can be useful for future research, with a special focus on a better naturalistic management of the urban river ecosystem, and the conservation of the floristic heritage within the city of Rome.

scholarly journals Butterfly biodiversity in the city is driven by the interaction of the urban landscape and species traits: a call for contextualised management

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clàudia Pla-Narbona ◽  
Constantí Stefanescu ◽  
Joan Pino ◽  
Francisco J. Cabrero-Sañudo ◽  
Enrique García-Barros ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Functional Groups ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Landscape Planning ◽  
Choice Model ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Similar Species ◽  
Landscape Characteristics ◽  
Mobile Species ◽  
The City

Abstract Context Urbanisation is an environmental filter for many species that leads to community homogenisation, with a few species inhabiting isolated patches (e.g. public and private gardens and parks) embedded within the urban landscape. Promoting biodiversity in urban areas requires understanding which species traits allow species to survive the urban landscape. Objectives The objective of this study was to assess how species traits and landscape factors combine to allow species functional groups to live in the city. Methods We used butterfly count data collected by volunteers in 24 gardens of Barcelona city, during 2018 and 2019. Species were clustered in functional groups according to their traits. We applied a multinomial choice model to test for the effect of the landscape on the different functional groups. Results Three functional groups became prevalent in the city while a fourth, containing most sedentary specialist species, was filtered out. Although the observed groups had similar species richness, abundances varied depending on urban landscape characteristics. Specialist sedentary specialists and medium mobile species were all favoured by patch connectivity; while the presence of mobile generalist species was only enhanced by habitat quality. Our results indicate that butterfly communities are more diverse in highly connected gardens. Conclusions Our study highlights the need of contextualised management with actions accounting for the species functional groups, rather than a management focused on general species richness. It demonstrates that urban landscape planning must focus on improving connectivity inside the city in order to diversify the community composition.

scholarly journals Connectivity assessment and prioritization of urban grasslands as a helpful tool for effective management of urban ecosystem services

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. e0244452
Author(s):  
Hassanali Mollashahi ◽  
Magdalena Szymura ◽  
Tomasz H. Szymura
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Dispersal Distance ◽  
Dispersal Ability ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
City Center ◽  
High Resolution Data ◽  
The City

Urban grasslands are usually managed as short-cut lawns and have limited biodiversity. Urban grasslands with low-intensity management are species rich and can perform numerous ecosystem services, but they are not accepted by citizens everywhere. Further, increasing and/or maintaining a relatively high level of plant species richness in an urban environment is limited by restricted plant dispersal. In this study, we examined the connectivity of urban grasslands and prioritized the grassland patches with regard to their role in connectivity in an urban landscape. We used high-resolution data from a land use system to map grassland patches in Wrocław city, Silesia, southwest Poland, Central Europe, and applied a graph theory approach to assess their connectivity and prioritization. We next constructed a model for several dispersal distance thresholds (2, 20, 44, 100, and 1000 m), reflecting plants with differing dispersal potential. Our results revealed low connectivity of urban grassland patches, especially for plants with low dispersal ability (2–20 m). The priority of patches was correlated with their area for all dispersal distance thresholds. Most of the large patches important to overall connectivity were located in urban peripheries, while in the city center, connectivity was more restricted and grassland area per capita was the lowest. The presence of a river created a corridor, allowing plants to migrate along watercourse, but it also created a barrier dividing the system. The results suggest that increasing the plant species richness in urban grasslands in the city center requires seed addition.

scholarly journals The Effect of Landscape on the Diversity in Urban Green Areas

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 613-625 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Kirichenko-Babko ◽  
Grzegorz Łagód ◽  
Dariusz Majerek ◽  
Małgorzata Franus ◽  
Roman Babko
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Ground Beetles ◽  
Dispersal Ability ◽  
Forest Species ◽  
Natural Landscape ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Urban Green Areas ◽  
Green Areas ◽  
High Species Richness ◽  
The City

Abstract This article presented the results of a comparative analysis of carabid species compositions (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in urban green areas of the City of Lublin, Eastern Poland. In this study, the occurrence and abundance of ground beetles were analysed according to habitat preference and dispersal ability. A total of 65 carabid species were found in the three green areas. Obviously, the high species richness of ground beetles in the greenery of the Lublin is determined by the mostly undeveloped floodplain of the river Bystrzyca. The species richness of carabids and their relative abundance decrease in the assemblage of green areas under the effect of isolation of green patches and fragmentation of the semi-natural landscape elements in the urban environment. Generalists and open-habitat species significantly prevailed in all green areas. The prevailing of riparian and forest species at floodplain sites of the river Bystrzyca demonstrated the existence of a connection of the carabid assemblage with landscape of river valley. The Saski Park and gully “Rury” are more influenced by urbanization (fragmentation, isolation of green patches) and recreation that is consistent with the significant prevalence of open-habitats species in the carabid beetle assemblage.

Tourism SMEs and organizational learning in a competitive environment

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 184-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Hossein Imani Khoshkhoo ◽  
Zahra Nadalipour
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Travel And Tourism ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Methods

Purpose This paper aims to study the impact of increasing number of competitors on the organisational learning (OL) in tourism small and medium-sized enterprises. The focus of this study is the tourism and travel agencies (TTAs) of the City of Ahvaz where the OL was studied within TTAs insofar as increasing the number of competitors is concerned. The underlying question in this paper is whether or not the increasing number of competitors affects OL in TTAs of the City of Ahvaz. Design/methodology/approach Using a longitudinal survey, OL was studied at individual, group and organisational levels. The research is based upon quantitative and qualitative methods. Owing to the small number of samples, in addition to questionnaire and quantitative analysis, authors made use of in-depth interviews. The first research was conducted in 2012, while the second one was done in 2014. Findings It was found that in 2012, with its limited number of competitors in the market, learning in these organisations was desirable at individual level and not at group or organisational levels. On the other hand, both the quantitative and qualitative methods in 2014, with the increased number of TTAs, suggested that the quality of learning were desirable in all organisational levels in that year. Research limitations/implications Care should be taken in generalising the results of the research to other TTAs because the size of the sample in this study was small. Moreover, structure and performance of TTAs may be different among various regions. In addition to the said limitation, it must be noted that some variables such as experience, education and gender were not consider in analysing the results of the study. Furthermore, OL in the TTAs might be affected by other variables that were not considered in this study. Originality/value Originality of the study is to link “OL” to the “competition”. There is not any study with special focus on OL with approaching to competition, neither in travel and tourism literature nor in OL literature, and this study can be a starting point to raise further and future research and debates.

scholarly journals Urban fragmentation leads to lower floral diversity, with knock-on impacts on bee biodiversity

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Panagiotis Theodorou ◽  
Sarah-Christine Herbst ◽  
Belinda Kahnt ◽  
Patricia Landaverde-González ◽  
Lucie M. Baltz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Functional Trait ◽  
Flowering Plants ◽  
Flowering Plant ◽  
Urban Green Spaces ◽  
Floral Diversity ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Species Richness And Abundance

AbstractBees and flowering plants are two closely interacting groups of organisms. Habitat loss and fragmentation associated with urbanisation are major threats to both partners. Yet how and why bee and floral richness and diversity co-vary within the urban landscape remain unclear. Here, we sampled bees and flowering plants in urban green spaces to investigate how bee and flowering plant species richness, their phylogenetic diversity and pollination-relevant functional trait diversity influence each other in response to urban fragmentation. As expected, bee abundance and richness were positively related to flowering plant richness, with bee body size (but not bee richness and diversity) increasing with nectar-holder depth of flowering plants. Causal modelling indicated that bottom-up effects dictated patterns of bee-flower relationships, with urban fragmentation diminishing flowering plants richness and thereby indirectly reducing bee species richness and abundance. The close relationship between bees and flowering plants highlights the risks of their parallel declines in response to land-use change within the urban landscape.

Plant communities preferences of terrestrial crustaceans (Isopoda: Oniscidea) in a protected coastal area of southeastern Sicily (Italy)

Biologia ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppina Messina ◽  
Giuseppe Montesanto ◽  
Elisa Pezzino ◽  
Saverio Sciandrello ◽  
Domenico Caruso ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Coastal Area ◽  
Sampling Site ◽  
Pca Analysis ◽  
Ecological Features ◽  
Activity Density ◽  
High Species Richness ◽  
Annual Activity ◽  
Rocky Coast

AbstractWe studied the plant communities preferences of oniscidean isopods in a protected coastal area in southeastern Sicily that is characterized by ponds, dunes and rocky coast. In total, five sites were sampled between March 2003 and February 2004 using pitfall traps. A total of 7,326 specimens were found, belonging to 23 species. The vegetation analysis, using the phytosociological method, recognized a total of 11 types of plant communities, with specific ecological features. Measuring the species richness, diversity and annual activity density (aAD) values of the terrestrial isopod communities from each sampling site revealed differences among the various plant communities. PCA analysis confirmed the correlation between isopods species and specific plant communities. Moreover our results show that the high species richness is associated with a high vegetation cover and number of plants.

scholarly journals Plant species richness and composition of a habitat island within Lake Kastoria and comparison with those of a true island within the protected Pamvotis lake (NW Greece)

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandros Papanikolaou ◽  
Maria Panitsa
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Ecological Value ◽  
Anthropogenic Pressures ◽  
Large Measure ◽  
Β Diversity ◽  
Community Interest ◽  
Habitat Island ◽  
The City

Lake Kastoria is one of the potentially “ancient” Balkan lakes that has a great environmental importance and ecological value, attracts high touristic interest and is under various anthropogenic pressures. It belongs to a Natura 2000 Special Protection Area and a Site of Community Interest. The city of Kastoria is located at the western part of the lake and just next to it, towards the centre of the lake, is a peninsula, a habitat island. In the framework of research concerning the flora of lake islands of Greece, one of the main objectives of the present study is to fill a gap concerning plant species richness of the habitat island within the protected Lake Kastoria, which is surrounded by the lake except for its north-western part where the border of the city of Kastoria is located. Floristic analysis of the habitat island of Lake Kastoria is in large measure accounted, concerning chorology with emphasis on Balkan endemics (8.7%), life forms, by hemicryptophytes (36.1%), therophytes (33.2%), phanerophytes (16.4%) and geophytes (10.9%) and, for habitats, by taxa preferring agricultural and ruderal ones (53.3%). Another objective is to compare its floristic composition to the one of the island within the protected urban Lake Pamvotis - one of the very few lake islands in Greece - focusing on the influence of urbanisation. The α- and β- diversity are measured in order to reveal floristic differences. Beta diversity partitioning in turnover and nestedness showed that the β-diversity is mostly expressed as compositional turnover. The role of the society in combination with long-term programmes for the study of plant species richness, functional diversity and patterns of species assemblages over time are necessary for the effective management and protection of protected areas, including lake insular areas.

scholarly journals Butterfly biodiversity in the city is driven by the interaction of the urban landscape and the species traits: a call for contextualised management

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clàudia Pla-Narbona ◽  
Constantí Stefanescu ◽  
Joan Pino ◽  
Francisco J. Cabrero-Sañudo ◽  
Enrique García-Barros ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Functional Groups ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Landscape Planning ◽  
Choice Model ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Similar Species ◽  
Landscape Characteristics ◽  
Mobile Species ◽  
The City

Abstract Context Urbanisation is an environmental filter for many species that leads to community homogenisation, with a few species inhabiting isolated patches (gardens) embedded in the urban landscape. Promoting biodiversity in urban areas requires understanding which and how species traits allow species to survive the urban landscape. Objectives The objective of this study was to assess how species traits and landscape factors combine to allow species functional groups live in the city, by means of the use of suitable patches in the urban landscape. Methods We used butterfly count data collected by volunteers in 24 gardens of Barcelona city, for 2018 and 2019. Species were clustered in functional groups according to their traits. We applied a multinomial choice model to test the effect of the landscape on the different functional groups. Results Three functional groups appeared in the city while a fourth, containing most sedentary specialist species, was filtered out. Although the observed groups had similar species richness, abundances varied depending on urban landscape characteristics. Specialist sedentary and medium mobile species were all favoured by patch connectivity; while the presence of mobile generalist species was only enhanced by habitat quality. Our results indicate that butterfly communities are more diverse in highly connected gardens. Conclusions Our study highlights the need of contextualised management with actions accounting for the species functional groups, rather than a management focused on general species richness. It evidences that urban landscape planning must focus on improving connectivity inside the city in order to diversify the community composition.

Emplacing Berlin: Digital Itineraries and Short-term Study Abroad in the City

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard B. Apgar
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Study Abroad Programs ◽  
Term Study ◽  
Digital Maps ◽  
Short Term Study ◽  
The City

As destination of choice for many short-term study abroad programs, Berlin offers students of German language, culture and history a number of sites richly layered with significance. The complexities of these sites and the competing narratives that surround them are difficult for students to grasp in a condensed period of time. Using approaches from the spatial humanities, this article offers a case study for enhancing student learning through the creation of digital maps and itineraries in a campus-based course for subsequent use during a three-week program in Berlin. In particular, the concept of deep mapping is discussed as a means of augmenting understanding of the city and its history from a narrative across time to a narrative across the physical space of the city. As itineraries, these course-based projects were replicated on site. In moving from the digital environment to the urban landscape, this article concludes by noting meanings uncovered and narratives formed as we moved through the physical space of the city.

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