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Urban plant species patterns are highly driven by density and function of built-up areas

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Abstract

This paper aims to assess the relative importance of the type of built-up area in structuring plant species composition and richness in urbanised environments. The study was carried out in the city of Brussels where all vascular plant species were recorded in 189 grid cells of 1 km2 each. The effect of urban land use type on species composition was investigated using first Canonical Correspondence Analysis. Densely built-up area was the most powerful predictor for species composition, followed by industrial built-up areas, half open or open built-up areas with plantations, and open built-up areas with much natural vegetation in the surroundings. Indicator species were found for each type of built-up area and a response curve to the amount of built land was produced using Generalised Additive Modelling. Various types of built-up areas had different effects on environmental conditions as inferred by Ellenberg’s indicator values, as well as on the species richness, species rarity, number of exotic species and proportion of extinction-prone species. It is concluded that future ecological studies should not treat urban areas as homogeneous areas by combining all anthropogenic factors into one aggregated variable. Instead, the urban matrix should be categorised in subsystems as it is multidimensional and highly variable across space.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support for this work was provided by the Brussels Institute for Environment Management (IBGE-BIM) in the framework of the research project “Information and survey network on the biodiversity in Brussels”. We also thank Desiré Paelinckx for the information provided regarding the Biological Valuation Map, and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments to an earlier version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Plant Biology and Nature Management (APNA), Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Sandrine Godefroid & Nico Koedam

Authors
  1. Sandrine Godefroid
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  2. Nico Koedam
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Correspondence to Sandrine Godefroid.

Appendix

Appendix

Annex 1

Species name

Abbreviation

Acer platanoides

Acerplat

Blechnum spicant

Blecspic

Calystegia sepium

Calysepi

Carex sylvatica

Caresylv

Chaerophyllum temulum

Chaetemu

Chenopodium hybridum

Chenhybr

Chrysosplenium oppositifolium

Chryoppo

Circaea lutetiana

Circlute

Cornus sanguinea

Cornsang

Cymbalaria muralis

Cymbmura

Daucus carota

Dauccaro

Epilobium ciliatum

Epilcili

Euphorbia peplus

Euphpepl

Galega officinalis

Galeoffi

Galinsoga ciliata

Galicili

Hedera helix

Hedeheli

Hordeum murinum

Hordmuri

Hyacinthoides non-scripta

Hyacnon-

Hyoscyamus niger

Hyosnige

Hypochoeris radicata

Hyporadi

Lathyrus latifolius

Lathlati

Lepidium ruderale

Lepirude

Linaria vulgaris

Linavulg

Lolium perenne

Lolipere

Luzula campestris

Luzucamp

Luzula sylvatica

Luzusylv

Lycopus europaeus

Lycoeuro

Matricaria discoidea

Matrdisc

Matricaria maritima subsp. inodora

Matrmari

Medicago sativa

Medisati

Melilotus albus

Melialbu

Melilotus officinalis

Melioffi

Milium effusum

Milieffu

Mycelis muralis

Mycemura

Plantago lanceolata

Planlanc

Polygonatum multiflorum

Polymult

Polygonum amphibium

Polyamph

Polygonum aviculare

Polyavic

Polygonum hydropiper

Polyhydr

Potentilla reptans

Poterept

Pseudofumaria lutea

Pseulute

Pteridium aquilinum

Pteraqui

Ranunculus sardous

Ranusard

Reseda lutea

Reselu-ea

Reseda luteola

Reselu-la

Rosa canina

Rosacani

Rubus idaeus

Rubuidae

Rumex sanguineus

Rumesang

Salix caprea

Salicapr

Sambucus racemosa

Sambrace

Scrophularia nodosa

Scronodo

Senecio inaequidens

Seneinae

Senecio ovatus

Seneovat

Silene latifolia

Silelati

Solanum nigrum

Solanigr

Stellaria graminea

Stelgram

Syringa vulgaris

Syrivulg

Teucrium scorodonia

Teucscor

Trifolium repens

Trifrepe

Veronica montana

Veromont

Veronica officinalis

Verooffi

Vulpia myuros

Vulpmyur

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Godefroid, S., Koedam, N. Urban plant species patterns are highly driven by density and function of built-up areas. Landscape Ecol 22, 1227–1239 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-007-9102-x

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