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Biodiversity conservation in cities: Defining habitat analogues for plant species of conservation interest

Urban green spaces, both unmanaged and managed, include novel ecosystems that may be suitable habitat analogues for native plant species of conservation interest. The objective of this study was to define habitat analogues in the Mediterranean city of Beirut for Matthiola crassifolia, a Lebanese ste...

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Autores principales: Itani, M., Al Zein, M., Nasralla, N., Talhouk, S. N.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7282666/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32516335
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220355
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author Itani, M.
Al Zein, M.
Nasralla, N.
Talhouk, S. N.
author_facet Itani, M.
Al Zein, M.
Nasralla, N.
Talhouk, S. N.
author_sort Itani, M.
collection PubMed
description Urban green spaces, both unmanaged and managed, include novel ecosystems that may be suitable habitat analogues for native plant species of conservation interest. The objective of this study was to define habitat analogues in the Mediterranean city of Beirut for Matthiola crassifolia, a Lebanese steno-endemic only present in urban habitats. We adopted a stepwise method that integrates two vegetation assessments, floristics, and life form. We placed seventy-eight quadrats (1m x 1m) in 12 study sites following a deliberate biased approach to capture habitat diversity. In every quadrat, we performed taxonomic identification and recorded life forms of each species. We pooled species that shared the same life form and estimated area cover for each life form accordingly. We performed TWINSPAN analyses on both floristic and life form data, then combined these findings to generate a description of habitat analogues suitable for M. crassifolia. TWINSPAN analysis of floristic data clustered the 78 quadrats under 17 quadrat groups, while life form data assembled the quadrats under 11 quadrat groups. The integration of floristic and life-form classification results into one matrix generated 30 quadrat groups, 8, which were highly favorable to M. crassifolia, and 12, which excluded it. The stepwise method unveiled similarities between vegetation assemblages, which appeared distinct due to the high presence of ruderals. We found that habitat analogues favorable to M. crassifolia include green spaces dominated by palms, low-lying succulents, or shrubs with scale-like leaves. In contrast, areas dominated by turf grass, canopy trees, or vegetation that produces significant litter were not favorable to M. crassifolia’s persistence. Based on these findings, we generated a plant palette of life forms which guides designs of urban habitats favorable to M. crassifolia. SYNTHESIS AND APPLICATIONS: The stepwise method was useful in producing informative plant lists and assemblages for planting designs and landscape management; it generated a plant selection palette that is not restrictive and does not enforce a native only policy. It also offered a wide range of potential habitat analogues for M. crassifolia.
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spelling pubmed-72826662020-06-17 Biodiversity conservation in cities: Defining habitat analogues for plant species of conservation interest Itani, M. Al Zein, M. Nasralla, N. Talhouk, S. N. PLoS One Research Article Urban green spaces, both unmanaged and managed, include novel ecosystems that may be suitable habitat analogues for native plant species of conservation interest. The objective of this study was to define habitat analogues in the Mediterranean city of Beirut for Matthiola crassifolia, a Lebanese steno-endemic only present in urban habitats. We adopted a stepwise method that integrates two vegetation assessments, floristics, and life form. We placed seventy-eight quadrats (1m x 1m) in 12 study sites following a deliberate biased approach to capture habitat diversity. In every quadrat, we performed taxonomic identification and recorded life forms of each species. We pooled species that shared the same life form and estimated area cover for each life form accordingly. We performed TWINSPAN analyses on both floristic and life form data, then combined these findings to generate a description of habitat analogues suitable for M. crassifolia. TWINSPAN analysis of floristic data clustered the 78 quadrats under 17 quadrat groups, while life form data assembled the quadrats under 11 quadrat groups. The integration of floristic and life-form classification results into one matrix generated 30 quadrat groups, 8, which were highly favorable to M. crassifolia, and 12, which excluded it. The stepwise method unveiled similarities between vegetation assemblages, which appeared distinct due to the high presence of ruderals. We found that habitat analogues favorable to M. crassifolia include green spaces dominated by palms, low-lying succulents, or shrubs with scale-like leaves. In contrast, areas dominated by turf grass, canopy trees, or vegetation that produces significant litter were not favorable to M. crassifolia’s persistence. Based on these findings, we generated a plant palette of life forms which guides designs of urban habitats favorable to M. crassifolia. SYNTHESIS AND APPLICATIONS: The stepwise method was useful in producing informative plant lists and assemblages for planting designs and landscape management; it generated a plant selection palette that is not restrictive and does not enforce a native only policy. It also offered a wide range of potential habitat analogues for M. crassifolia. Public Library of Science 2020-06-09 /pmc/articles/PMC7282666/ /pubmed/32516335 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220355 Text en © 2020 Itani et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Itani, M.
Al Zein, M.
Nasralla, N.
Talhouk, S. N.
Biodiversity conservation in cities: Defining habitat analogues for plant species of conservation interest
title Biodiversity conservation in cities: Defining habitat analogues for plant species of conservation interest
title_full Biodiversity conservation in cities: Defining habitat analogues for plant species of conservation interest
title_fullStr Biodiversity conservation in cities: Defining habitat analogues for plant species of conservation interest
title_full_unstemmed Biodiversity conservation in cities: Defining habitat analogues for plant species of conservation interest
title_short Biodiversity conservation in cities: Defining habitat analogues for plant species of conservation interest
title_sort biodiversity conservation in cities: defining habitat analogues for plant species of conservation interest
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7282666/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32516335
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220355
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