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Floristic diversity in different urban ecological niches of a southern European city

The present paper aimed at studying the vertical and horizontal spatial distribution, species richness and diversity of vascular plants in different urban ecological niches (urban habitats) by means of the case study of Bologna (Italy), a typical densely populated southern European city. A total of...

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Autores principales: Salinitro, Mirko, Alessandrini, Alessandro, Zappi, Alessandro, Melucci, Dora, Tassoni, Annalisa
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6181971/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30310125
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-33346-6
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author Salinitro, Mirko
Alessandrini, Alessandro
Zappi, Alessandro
Melucci, Dora
Tassoni, Annalisa
author_facet Salinitro, Mirko
Alessandrini, Alessandro
Zappi, Alessandro
Melucci, Dora
Tassoni, Annalisa
author_sort Salinitro, Mirko
collection PubMed
description The present paper aimed at studying the vertical and horizontal spatial distribution, species richness and diversity of vascular plants in different urban ecological niches (urban habitats) by means of the case study of Bologna (Italy), a typical densely populated southern European city. A total of 477 species were found in the study area of the historical city centre, 30% of which were alien species. Alien plant species were mainly present among phanerophytes, while native plants were mainly therophytes and hemicryptophytes. The habitats that mostly contributed to the species total richness were semi-natural soils, followed by paved areas, walls, rooftops and manholes. The number of exclusive species decreased according to the selectiveness of the habitat, with manholes and rooftops being the most selective. The presence of hemicryptophytes constant decreased going from 27% of more humid habitats to 5% of more arid habitats, so that they can be considered a water availability biomarker. Urban habitat quality, measured by the number of native species, was directly proportional to the strength of selective factors and inversely proportional to the rate of disturbance, with roofs and semi-natural soils having, respectively, the highest and lowest quality. Finally, a relation between species richness and street characteristics, like width, orientation and type of flooring, was demonstrated.
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spelling pubmed-61819712018-10-15 Floristic diversity in different urban ecological niches of a southern European city Salinitro, Mirko Alessandrini, Alessandro Zappi, Alessandro Melucci, Dora Tassoni, Annalisa Sci Rep Article The present paper aimed at studying the vertical and horizontal spatial distribution, species richness and diversity of vascular plants in different urban ecological niches (urban habitats) by means of the case study of Bologna (Italy), a typical densely populated southern European city. A total of 477 species were found in the study area of the historical city centre, 30% of which were alien species. Alien plant species were mainly present among phanerophytes, while native plants were mainly therophytes and hemicryptophytes. The habitats that mostly contributed to the species total richness were semi-natural soils, followed by paved areas, walls, rooftops and manholes. The number of exclusive species decreased according to the selectiveness of the habitat, with manholes and rooftops being the most selective. The presence of hemicryptophytes constant decreased going from 27% of more humid habitats to 5% of more arid habitats, so that they can be considered a water availability biomarker. Urban habitat quality, measured by the number of native species, was directly proportional to the strength of selective factors and inversely proportional to the rate of disturbance, with roofs and semi-natural soils having, respectively, the highest and lowest quality. Finally, a relation between species richness and street characteristics, like width, orientation and type of flooring, was demonstrated. Nature Publishing Group UK 2018-10-11 /pmc/articles/PMC6181971/ /pubmed/30310125 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-33346-6 Text en © The Author(s) 2018 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Salinitro, Mirko
Alessandrini, Alessandro
Zappi, Alessandro
Melucci, Dora
Tassoni, Annalisa
Floristic diversity in different urban ecological niches of a southern European city
title Floristic diversity in different urban ecological niches of a southern European city
title_full Floristic diversity in different urban ecological niches of a southern European city
title_fullStr Floristic diversity in different urban ecological niches of a southern European city
title_full_unstemmed Floristic diversity in different urban ecological niches of a southern European city
title_short Floristic diversity in different urban ecological niches of a southern European city
title_sort floristic diversity in different urban ecological niches of a southern european city
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6181971/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30310125
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-33346-6
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