Phylogenetic Diversity of Urban Floras in the Central Urals

Modern cities harbor a high diversity of plants, and urban floras are significantly different from non-urban floras especially when considering the proportion of alien species found in cities. However, it is not clear whether urban areas disproportionately select for species from relatively few evolutionary lineages or provide opportunities for species across the full spectrum of plant lineages. Here, we examined the taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of the floras in four cities (Yekaterinburg, Kamensk-Uralsky, Krasnoufimsk, and Turinsk) in the understudied region of Central Urals (Russian Federation). We classified native species into indigenous and apophytic species, namely, those that are sensitive to anthropogenic disturbance and those that have expanded their range with human activity, respectively. Alien species were classified into archaeophytes and neophytes according to when they were introduced (i.e., before or after than 1800). Phylogenetic diversity was quantified using Faith’s index to reflect total evolutionary history in urban areas and mean phylogenetic distance (MPD) to reflect species dissimilarity. Phylogenetic diversity of native species was higher than that for alien species, and the standardized effect size (SES) of MPD for natives was positive, reflecting their general dissimilarity from one another, while it was very negative for aliens, showing that they were phylogenetically clustered. However, among natives, apophytes were significantly clustered, while indigenous species were overdispersed. For the aliens, MPD was higher for archaeophytes compared to neophytes, though both groups were significantly clustered. These results show that urbanization leads to a non-random selection of plants. Apophytes and alien plants were composed of closely related species, reflecting similar ecological traits and are likely to be pre-adapted to the environmentally altered and highly disturbed urban environment.

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Biodiversity-productivity relationship in urban vascular flora: a comparison between wild edible and non-edible plants

Botanical Sciences ◽

10.17129/botsci.2892 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Sebastián Cordero ◽

Francisca Galvez ◽

Gastón O. Carvallo

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Phylogenetic Diversity ◽

Evolutionary Relationship ◽

Biomass Productivity ◽

Plant Production ◽

Wild Edible Plants ◽

Edible Plants ◽

Edible Plant ◽

Urban Floras

Background: Wild edible plants are species that are not cultivated but can be consumed as food. These plants may exhibit the highest taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity within urban floras, since they have a longer history of use associated with humans than non-edible plants. Also, because biodiversity is strongly associated with biomass, edible plants plant might show higher productivity (biomass per site) than non-edible plants. Questions: Is taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of wild edible plants higher than non-edibles within urban areas? Is the alpha-biodiversity of wild edible plants positively related to biomass productivity in urban areas? Study sites and years of study: Cities of the coastal Mediterranean-type ecosystem, central Chile, 2015 and 2016. Methods: We characterized the taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of urban flora differentiating wild edible and non-edible plants. Then, we assessed whether alpha-diversity of assemblages is related to their biomass productivity. Results: Both taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity were higher for edibles than non-edible plants. For edible plants, biomass was positively related to species richness and negatively with the mean phylogenetic diversity (MPD, a measure of evolutionary relationship among plants within an assemblage). Conclusions: Species richness is a suitable proxy to estimate wild edible plant diversity and their biomass in cities surpassing other proxies, such as phylogenetic diversity. Negative effect of MPD on biomass suggests that only a subgroup of related plants, possibly highly adapted to urban conditions, contribute to edible plant production. The distinction between wild edible and non-edible plants offers a better understanding of the assembly rules and biodiversity-biomass relationship within urban floras.

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Darwin’s naturalization conundrum disentangled: the role of phylogenetic relatedness depends on the invasion stages

10.21203/rs.3.rs-1114202/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ali Omer ◽

Trevor Fristoe ◽

Qiang Yang ◽

Mialy Razanajatovo ◽

Patrick Weigelt ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alien Species ◽

Southern Africa ◽

Native Species ◽

Phylogenetic Distance ◽

Phylogenetic Relatedness ◽

Native Flora ◽

Invasion Stage ◽

Adaptation Hypothesis ◽

The Relationship

Abstract Darwin’s naturalization hypothesis predicts successful invaders to be distantly related to native species, whereas his pre-adaptation hypothesis predicts the opposite. It has been suggested that depending on the invasion stage (i.e. introduction, naturalization, and invasiveness), both hypotheses, now known as Darwin’s naturalization conundrum, could hold true. We tested this by analysing whether the likelihood of introduction for cultivation as well as subsequent stages of naturalization and invasion of species alien to Southern Africa are correlated with their phylogenetic distance to the native flora of this region. While species were more likely to be introduced for cultivation if they are distantly related to the native flora, the probability of subsequent naturalization was higher for species closely related to the native flora. Furthermore, the probability of becoming invasive was higher for naturalized species distantly related to the native flora. These results were consistent across three different metrics of phylogenetic distance. Our study reveals that the relationship between phylogenetic distance to the native flora and success of an alien species depends on the invasion stage.

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Functional diversity changes in native and alien urban flora over three centuries

Biological Invasions ◽

10.1007/s10530-021-02509-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Marija Milanović ◽

Ingolf Kühn ◽

Petr Pyšek ◽

Sonja Knapp

Keyword(s):

Invasive Species ◽

Alien Species ◽

Functional Diversity ◽

Functional Traits ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Native Species ◽

Seed Mass ◽

Ecological Niches ◽

Alien Plant ◽

Over Time

AbstractAlien species in urban areas have a large effect on overall species diversity. A suitable metric of flora’s response to environmental change is functional diversity (FD) that refers to the multivariate space of species’ trait compositions, reflecting their ecological niches. We studied how FD changed over 320 years of urbanization in the city of Halle (Saale), Germany. Selected functional traits (related to stress-tolerance, reproduction, competitiveness and phenology) were examined for the difference in FD between native and alien plant species, the latter specifically for archaeophytes, neophytes and invasive species. Functional diversity for each trait was calculated using Rao’s Q index followed by a linear model to test for changes in Rao’s Q over time between the groups. Over the 320 years, overall FD remained constant despite species turnover, but FD significantly increased for neophytes and invasive species compared to native species. Plant height was the only trait showing increase in FD as main effect, while for the other traits examined FD decreased over time. Considering invasive species separately, the majority of traits exhibit a significant increase in FD except for seed mass where it decreased. Finally, FD of multiple functional traits combined decreased over time. This can be due to homogenization of functional trait between native and alien species, as a consequence of habitats becoming more similar and subsequent habitat filtering. Our results demonstrate that during the last three centuries, urbanization influenced plant FD in various ways and may contribute to future uniformity of urban floras and greater invasiveness.

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Floristic analysis of domestic gardens in the Tlokwe City Municipality, South Africa

Bothalia ◽

10.4102/abc.v41i2.78 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 41 (2) ◽

pp. 351-361 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

C. S. Lubbe ◽

S. J. Siebert ◽

S. S. Cilliers

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Alien Species ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Urban Ecosystems ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Indigenous Species ◽

North West ◽

Domestic Gardens ◽

Management Plans ◽

The Developed Countries

This paper is a first attempt to describe the flora of domestic gardens from an urban environment in South Africa. A total of 835 plant species of 501 genera in 145 families was recorded from 100 gardens in a 54.9 km2 area of the Tlokwe City Municipality [Potchefstroom], North-West Province. A substantial number of alien species (580) were recorded, but also many indigenous species (255) that included South African endemics (61) and protected species on the National Red Data List (18). A number of the alien species that were commonly cultivated are declared invasive plants in South Africa (88). Most of the cultivated indigenous taxa originated from the southeastern provinces of South Africa. This study provides new knowledge on the often overlooked biodiversity of urban areas in a developing, mega-diverse country. Most studies of a similar nature were conducted in the developed countries of Europe and are of limited use in the development of management plans of urban ecosystems in southern Africa.

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Trait-Environment Relationships Reveal the Success of Alien Plants Invasiveness in an Urbanized Landscape

Plants ◽

10.3390/plants10081519 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (8) ◽

pp. 1519

Author(s):

Reham F. El-Barougy ◽

Mohammed A. Dakhil ◽

Mohamed Abdelaal ◽

Ali El-Keblawy ◽

Louis-Félix Bersier

Keyword(s):

Alien Species ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Native Species ◽

Native Plants ◽

Plant Traits ◽

Species Traits ◽

Alien Plants ◽

Urbanization Gradient ◽

Soil Resources ◽

Species Groups

Urban areas are being affected by rapidly increasing human-made pressures that can strongly homogenize biodiversity, reduce habitat heterogeneity, and facilitate the invasion of alien species. One of the key concerns in invaded urban areas is comparing the trait–environment relationships between alien and native species, to determine the underlying causes of invasiveness. In the current study, we used a trait–environment dataset of 130 native plants and 33 alien plants, recorded in 100 plots covering 50 urban areas and 50 non-urban ones in an urbanization gradient in the arid mountainous Saint-Katherine protected area in Egypt. We measured eleven morphological plant traits for each plant species and ten environmental variables in each plot, including soil resources and human-made pressures, to construct trait–environment associations using a fourth-corner analysis. In addition, we measured the mean functional and phylogenetic distances between the two species groups along an urbanization gradient. Our results revealed strongly significant relationships of alien species traits with human-made pressures and soil resources in urban areas. However, in non-urban areas, alien species traits showed weak and non-significant associations with the environment. Simultaneously, native plants showed consistency in their trait–environment relationships in urban and non-urban areas. In line with these results, the functional and phylogenetic distances declined between the aliens and natives in urban areas, indicating biotic homogenization with increasing urbanization, and increased in non-urban areas, indicating greater divergence between the two species groups. Thereby, this study provided evidence that urbanization can reveal the plasticity of alien species and can also be the leading cause of homogenization in an arid urban area. Future urban studies should investigate the potential causes of taxonomic, genetic, and functional homogenization in species composition in formerly more diverse urbanized areas.

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ABUNDANCE OF RELATED SPECIES, KELLICOTTIA BOSTONIENSIS (ROUSSELET, 1908) AND K. LONGISPINA (KELLICOTT, 1879) (ROTIFERA: BRACHIONIDAE), IN THE COMMUNITIES OF ZOOPLANKTON OF THE PUSTYNSKAYA LAKE-RIVER SYSTEM (NIZHNY NOVGOROD OBLAST)

Russian Journal of Biological Invasions ◽

10.35885/1996-1499-2021-14-1-116-133 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 116-133

Author(s):

G. V. Shurganova ◽

T. V. Zolotareva ◽

I. A. Kudrin ◽

V. S. Zhikharev ◽

D. Е. Gavrilko ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alien Species ◽

Related Species ◽

Native Species ◽

River System ◽

Water Area ◽

Indigenous Species ◽

Novgorod Oblast ◽

Kellicottia Bostoniensis ◽

Water Ph ◽

Zooplankton Communities

The article presents the features of the spatial distribution of zooplankton communities in the water area of the Pustynskaya lake-river system. The abundance of two related species of the genus Kellicottia , the alien Kellicottia bostoniensis (Rousselet, 1908) and the indigenous K. longispina (Kellicott, 1879), was analyzed in dedicated communities in 2013-2017. The greatest abundance of the alien species was noted in zooplanktocenoses of mesotrophic water bodies (the Serezha River and Lake Svyato). It was found that after the period of mass development of K. bostoniensis in 2013-2014, which might be due to the initial stage of naturalization of the alien species, its abundance had sharply decreased. In 2013-2014 the abundance of the indigenous species K. longispina (Kellicott, 1879) was significantly lower than that of the alien species. Rotifer K. longispina dominated in the Protoka and Lake Svyato in 2017. The highest density of both species was found in the metalimnion of the mesotrophic Lake Svyato. A statistically significant positive correlation was found between the abundance of K. bostoniensis and the temperature, transparency, and pH of water, as well as the abundance of predatory zooplankton species. The abundance of the native species K. longispina correlated negatively only with the value of water pH.

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Diversity of organisms

10.1093/oso/9780198827238.003.0005 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Philip James

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Native Species ◽

New Technologies ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Green Spaces ◽

The Common ◽

Living Organisms ◽

Micro Organisms ◽

Diversity Of Life

The focus of this chapter is an examination of the diversity of living organisms found within urban environments, both inside and outside buildings. The discussion commences with prions and viruses before moving on to consider micro-organisms, plants, and animals. Prions and viruses cause disease in plants and animals, including humans. Micro-organisms are ubiquitous and are found in great numbers throughout urban environments. New technologies are providing new insights into their diversity. Plants may be found inside buildings as well as in gardens and other green spaces. The final sections of the chapter offer a discussion of the diversity of animals that live in urban areas for part or all of their life cycle. Examples of the diversity of life in urban environments are presented throughout, including native and non-native species, those that are benign and deadly, and the common and the rare.

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First Record of the Alien Species Procambarus virginalis Lyko, 2017 in Fresh Waters of Sardinia and Insight into Its Genetic Variability

Life ◽

10.3390/life11070606 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (7) ◽

pp. 606

Author(s):

Daria Sanna ◽

Ilenia Azzena ◽

Fabio Scarpa ◽

Piero Cossu ◽

Angela Pira ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Genetic Variability ◽

Alien Species ◽

Procambarus Clarkii ◽

Mitochondrial Gene ◽

First Record ◽

Indigenous Species ◽

Fresh Waters ◽

Mediterranean Island ◽

Marbled Crayfish ◽

Non Indigenous Species

In the fresh waters of Sardinia (Italy), the non-indigenous crayfish species Procambarus clarkii has been reported from 2005, but, starting from 2019, there have been several reports of a new non-indigenous crayfish in southern and central areas of this Mediterranean island, and its morphology suggests that this species may be the marbled crayfish Procambarus virginalis. Forty-seven individuals of this putative species were analyzed, using the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome c Oxidase subunit I as molecular marker to identify this crayfish and investigate the level of genetic variability within the recently established population. Phylogenetic and phylogeographic analyses were carried out on a dataset including sequences from the Sardinian individuals and from all congenerics available in GenBank. Results showed that the new Sardinian crayfish belong to the species P. virginalis. All the sequences belonging to P. virginalis from European countries are identical, with only few exceptions found among Sardinian individuals. In conclusion, this paper highlights the occurrence of a new further alien species in the Sardinian fresh waters, which are already characterized by the high presence of non-indigenous species.

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Urban Structure in Troubled Times: The Evolution of Principal and Secondary Core/Periphery Gaps through the Prism of Residential Land Values

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13105722 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (10) ◽

pp. 5722

Author(s):

Erez Buda ◽

Dani Broitman ◽

Daniel Czamanski

Keyword(s):

Urban Areas ◽

Hedonic Model ◽

Land Values ◽

Test Case ◽

Urban Structure ◽

Residential Real Estate ◽

Residential Land ◽

Ideal Candidate ◽

Modern Cities ◽

Spatial Level

The structure of modern cities is characterized by the uneven spatial distribution of people and activities. Contrary to economic theory, it is neither evenly distributed nor entirely monocentric. The observed reality is the result of various feedbacks in the context of the interactions of attraction and repulsion. Heretofore, there is no agreement concerning the means to measuring the dimensions of these interactions, nor the framework for explaining them. We propose a simple model and an associated method for testing the interactions using residential land values. We claim that land values reflect the attractiveness of each location, including its observable and unobservable characteristics. We extract land values from prices of residences by applying a dedicated hedonic model to extensive residential real estate transaction data at a detailed spatial level. The resulting land values reflect the attractiveness of each urban location and are an ideal candidate to measure the degree of centrality or peripherality of each location. Moreover, assessment of land values over time indicates ongoing centralization and peripheralization processes. Using the urban structure of a small and highly urbanized country as a test case, this paper illustrates how the dynamics of the gap between central and peripheral urban areas can be assessed.

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Urban Ecological Restoration

Nature and Culture ◽

10.3167/nc.2010.050301 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

pp. 227-230 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Paul H. Gobster

Keyword(s):

Ecological Restoration ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Indigenous Species ◽

Reference Sites ◽

Urban Context ◽

Ecological Processes ◽

Fixed Set ◽

Natural Diversity ◽

Urban Ecological Restoration

What does ecological restoration mean in an urban context? More than half of the world’s population now lives in cities, and in response to the dynamic patterns of urbanization, a growing number of ecologists, land managers, and volunteers are focusing their efforts in and around cities to restore remnants of natural diversity (Ingram 2008). Ecological restoration is still a quite youthful field, yet many scientists and practitioners hold a relatively fixed set of criteria for what defines a successful restoration project, irrespective of where sites are located. Among the criteria commonly stated, sites should be composed of indigenous species, have a structure and diversity characteristic of currently undisturbed or historically documented “reference” sites, and be maintained through ecological processes such as fire that ensure long-term sustainability with minimal human assistance (Ruiz-Jaén and Aide 2005; SER International 2004). Application of these criteria has led to many ecologically successful restorations, but some ecologists in the field have begun to question whether the same standards can be realistically applied to sites such as those within urban areas that have been radically altered by past human activity (e.g., Martínez and López-Barerra 2008) or are being influenced by novel conditions that result in unpredictable trajectories (Choi 2007). Perhaps more significantly, it is becoming increasingly recognized that the broader viability of restoration projects, especially those in urban areas, hinges on how socially successful they are in gaining public acceptance for restoration activities and practices, building constituencies to assist with implementation and maintenance, and addressing a broader set of sustainability goals that reach beyond the protection of native biodiversity (e.g., Choi et al. 2008; Hobbs 2007; Rosenzweig 2003).

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