Abstract
The floristic richness of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been extensively studied, however urban flora has only recently garnered attention, but no systematic surveys of urban ecosystems have been carried out. To address this problem, a study of the seven urban floras in Bosnia and Herzegovina was conducted to determine the pattern of floristic diversity and correlation with anthropogenic factors: size of the urban area, ratio of green areas in the total urban area, number of inhabitants, and population density. The first finding of the study is that urban floras in Bosnia and Herzegovina are rich in plant species. The results have shown that the urban floristic diversity largely reflects the natural vegetation of the urban environment, compared to urban floras in other parts of Europe. Species structure reflects the geographical location as well, so are the urban areas in the Mediterranean biogeographical region, Mostar and Blagaj, floristically richer, but at the same time species richness correlates with the total urban area, as in Sarajevo and Banja Luka. Moreover, the proportion of alien species is low and there is no pronounced process of floras homogenisation. Of the anthropogenisation factors, population density correlates most strongly with the richness of urban flora. From the results, we have concluded that urban plant diversity correlates with both environmental and anthropogenic factors, in a way that provides a basis for establishment of conservation programs in urban ecosystems.
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Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of the Republic of Serbia (Grant No. 451-03-47/2023-01/200125) for MR and GA. The authors BL, SP, NS, NM and TM declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.
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Authors BL, MR, SP and GA contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection were performed by BL, SP, NS, NM and TM. Analyses were performed by BL, MR and GA. The first draft of the manuscript was written by BL and MR and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Lubarda, B., Rat, M., Petronić, S. et al. Urban floristic diversity in Bosnia and Herzegovina—the reflection of nature. Urban Ecosyst (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-024-01509-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-024-01509-1