The ecological sustainability and function of urban landscapes is strongly Urban Landscape Vegetation University influenced by the composition and structure of the local plant community. Taxonomic composition generally refers to the identity of Urban Landscape Realism Github the species comprising the community, while we define structure as the presence of multiple canopy layers, as well as stems of varying diameter and age. These aspects of urban vegetation significantly influence the ecology of cities, yet they are generally poorly quantified across the range of natural and constructed plant communities present in urban landscapes.
We quantified vegetation composition and structure to i simultaneously assess urban landscape vegetation github variation across four green spaces types golf courses, urban landscape vegetation github, public parks, residential neighborhoods, and patches of remnant vegetation in Melbourne, Australia, and ii investigate the relationship between vegetation composition and structure within these green spaces.
The four green space types supported distinctly different plant communities. Residential neighborhoods had the highest plant species richness, although a large proportion of these species occurred infrequently. The structural complexity of understorey vegetation in remnant vegetation patches was very similar to that of golf courses even though some of the latter were dominated by exotic plant species. Variation in the composition and structure of urban vegetation might have great implications for the retention of faunal diversity within cities because different taxa have specific habitat requirements.
Hence, further understanding of variations in the composition and structure of both natural and constructed plant communities in cities will greatly improve our ability to create urban landscapes that enhance both plant and animal biodiversity. The vegetation and soil in urban green spaces determine the capacity of the urban environment to support biodiversity.
Green space vegetation and soil are also the components most easily manipulated by humans through disturbance and direct management actions Byrne, ; Faeth et al.
Networks of green space in cities all over the world are increasingly recognized as fundamental to the health and wellbeing of urban residents and important urban landscape vegetation github creating a sense of place and a connection to the natural world Fuller et al, urban landscape vegetation github. Vegetation also provides direct and indirect ecosystem services such as microclimate cooling, pollution removal, and food provision Bolund and Hunhammar, ; Derkzen et al.
Understanding the nature and variability of the vegetation within networks of green space can help inform our knowledge of the distribution of the ecosystem services it provides and the composition of faunal communities that depend on it. It can also help prioritize strategic management of urban green space vegetation so that it provides the greatest benefit to humans and biodiversity Fontana et al.
Any urban green space network is likely to consist of a combination of public spaces e. Within these different types of urban green space, vegetation is subject to various formal and informal management practices depending upon the ownership, objectives, available resources time and moneyand current understandings of management best-practice. Differences in ownership and custodianship can contribute greatly to the urban landscape vegetation github in green space vegetation management and influence the structure, composition, and distribution of plant communities across the urban landscape, urban landscape vegetation github.
Ecosystems that contain many different structural elements are likely to have a variety of resources e. In urban landscapes, the composition, structure, and coverage of vegetation has been recognized as a prime determinant of habitat quality, impacting upon the levels of biodiversity recorded in cities Beninde et al.
A relationship between vegetation vertical complexity and species richness was first hypothesized and demonstrated through a positive relationship between foliage height diversity and bird species diversity MacArthur and MacArthur, Since then, urban landscape vegetation github, the importance of vegetation composition and structure has been demonstrated for various taxa in natural and managed landscapes e.
In urban landscapes, vegetation has been found to be the major habitat for most species of vertebrates and invertebrates living aboveground, while simultaneously influencing the belowground habitat for fungi, microorganisms, and burrowing organisms Byrne, The complexity of urban vegetation has also been recently found to be a significant predictor for the diversity of numerous organisms involved in key biogeochemical and hydrological processes Ossola et al.
Despite the importance of urban vegetation for ecosystem functioning, few attempts have been made to compare vegetation throughout the highly heterogeneous network of urban green spaces in the public and private realm using standard methods.
Although many approaches have been developed and used to describe vegetation structure in natural and other human modified landscapes McElhinny et al. The few studies where a variety of structural attributes have been quantified have usually focused urban landscape vegetation github an individual type of urban green space e. Very few studies have actually evaluated the structural attributes present and differences in vegetation composition in different types of green space.
However, by using this combined approach we can gain a deeper understanding the underlying habitat drivers of species distributions and community assemblages McDonnell and Hahs, urban landscape vegetation github, In this study we aimed to develop and test a robust method to concurrently quantify vegetation taxonomic composition and structure in various urban green space types.
Through testing this method, we addressed the following research questions:. Based on our findings, implications for habitat provision for urban wildlife and biodiversity conservation are also discussed.
The greater Melbourne metropolitan area population 4. To minimize the influence of these environmental and biophysical factors we limited our study sites to the Southern Coastal Plain bioregion in the south east of metropolitan Melbourne Figure 1. Figure 1, urban landscape vegetation github. Prior to European settlement the area contained a mosaic of heathland, grassy woodland and swamp vegetation communities. Vegetation patterns were largely driven by geology and soil type. Heathlands occurred on deep, infertile, wind-blown sands deposited during periods of lower sea level with areas of shallower sands and swales supporting heathy woodland or damp heathland.
Grassy woodlands, dominated by River Red Gum Eucalyptus camaldulensisurban landscape vegetation github, occurred on more fertile alluvial soils along broad drainage lines and on plains of tertiary sediments not covered by sand sheets. Many different wetland and swamp vegetation communities occurred in depressions, dune swales, urban landscape vegetation github, and areas of impeded drainage throughout the study area Scott et al.
Since the establishment of Melbourne in the s, most of these wetland areas have been drained for agricultural and then urban development. The landscape of the study area has evolved to a mix of residential, commercial, and industrial developments, interspersed with areas of green space consisting of private residential gardens and streetscapes, small local public parks, public and private golf courses, publically accessible small isolated areas of remnant vegetation, and a few remaining private market gardens.
Within this region, we identified 13 suburbs and selected within each a golf course GCa public park UPand a residential neighborhood RN within 1 km of the golf course. We randomly selected four streets within each of the 13 RNs, and invited households on those streets to take part in the study by mail.
Plots in residential areas were established across the front-yards of willing participants, and the adjacent street vegetation [typically grass verge with street tree s ], urban landscape vegetation github. Information about the age, size, and location for each of our study sites can be found in Supplementary Material 1. Two additional plots were established for every 5 ha increase in green space size, up to a maximum of eight plots in large residential neighborhoods or golf courses.
Within the RNs we mailed all residents to request access to their front gardens, urban landscape vegetation github. From those that responded positively we randomly selected four residential properties and established vegetation plots that consisted of the entire front garden and the public space between their garden boundary and the center of the road, including any road side vegetation.
The width urban landscape vegetation github depth of each front garden primarily dictated the size of each plot in the residential neighborhoods as we could only sample properties for which we had permission. These months are typically the peak flowering period in Melbourne providing the greatest opportunity to identify species. The composition of the vegetation within each sampling plot was assessed by systematically traversing the plot and identifying all vascular plant species.
Species that could not be identified in the field were collected and identified using taxonomic keys in native and horticultural Floras Gray, ; Walsh and Entwisle, urban landscape vegetation github, ; Spencer, Horticultural cultivars were not considered as taxonomically separate, urban landscape vegetation github.
Species were then categorized depending on whether they were 1 indigenous to the Southern Coastal Plain bioregion, 2 native to Australia includes the indigenous speciesor 3 introduced to Australia i. Those species that could only be identified to genus were categorized to the two latter groups where possible.
Woody species were classified in shrubs and trees urban landscape vegetation github on the Burnley Plant Guide The University of Melbourne, and available Floras. To measure structure of understorey vegetation within a plot, we used a point-intercept method which has previously been used to study the response of wildlife to vegetation volume Mills et al. Four parallel 30 m transects were established at 5 m intervals Figure 2and used to sample vegetation intercepts at 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 m from the starting point of each transect e.
At each sampling point, we recorded: 1 the type of ground cover bare ground, pavement, leaf litter, Urban Landscape Watercolour Number urban landscape vegetation github, rock, gravel, mulch, vegetation and 2 all instances where vegetation intercepted a vertical measurement pole within five height intervals: 0. For each height interval within the plot, the number of vegetation intercepts were summed and used to calculate the vegetation volume within that height interval using the formula:.
Figure 2. Plan view left of a vegetation plot measuring 20 m by 30 m, with 28 points X located at 5 m intervals along four 30 m transects. Side view right of two vegetation structural complexity measurement points A and Bshowing the point intercept pole estimating a low understorey vegetation volume at location A, urban landscape vegetation github, and a high understorey vegetation volume estimate at B, where it intercepts shrub and herb beneath a tree over-storey.
To account for irregular plot sizes, we divided the sum of the estimated volumes by the total available volume area sampled multiplied by total height to produce a percentage estimate of vegetation volume in that plot. Within each plot, the stem diameter at 1.
Height of all trees in the plots was calculated using a clinometer. Plant species accumulation curves urban landscape vegetation github the four green spaces types were built using the function specaccum in R 3.
NMDS, species accumulation and rank-abundance curves were calculated using the packages vegan Oksanen et al. To examine differences in vegetation and habitat structure amongst green spaces, we used generalized linear mixed models GLMMsan approach that allowed us to account for the nested nature of the experimental design.
We conducted a Tukey-HSD test for each model to assess which green space types significantly differed for each variable. These analyses were performed using the lme4 Bates et al. A total of plant species were recorded across the four types of green space. The Chao1 estimate of total plant species richness was species, where the greatest difference urban landscape vegetation github actual and predicted species richness was for exotic species in the RN Table 1.
We recorded species locally indigenous to the bioregion, and a further species native to Australia Table 1. Golf courses and REs contained the highest proportion of observed native Australian plant species, while RNs and UPs contained the highest proportion of observed exotic species Table 1.
Table 1. The total and predicted number of vascular plant species native, exotic and locally indigenous and plant forms urban landscape vegetation github, tree, non-woody recorded in each of the four green space types. Public parks UP had the lowest rate of species accumulation over the first 20 plots Figure 3and therefore the relatively low richness of species is not an artifact of the fewer number of plots sampled.
Within GCs there was a relatively steady accumulation of species over the number of plots sampled Figure 3. The RNs had the highest rate of accumulation, despite the smaller area of each sampled plot, and the urban landscape vegetation github rate was relatively steady across all the plots sampled Figure 3. This indicates that sampling was sufficient in UP, RE, and GC green space types, however further sampling in RN would have revealed greater species richness, as supported by the predicted species richness estimate of plant species, urban landscape vegetation github, which is dominated by the contribution of exotic species Table 1.
When considering woody species accumulation curves separately from all plants Supplementary Material 2shrub species were contributing more than tree species to species accumulation within RN. Overall, the patterns amongst the four green space types were consistent regardless of all plant, tree only, or shrub urban landscape vegetation github accumulation curves. Figure 3. Species accumulation curves for the four major types of green space: golf courses GCpublic parks UPresidential neighborhoods RNurban landscape vegetation github, and patches of remnant vegetation RE.
The stress value of the 2D ordination is 0. Figure 4. Non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination for plots recorded in the four types of green space: golf courses GCpublic parks UPresidential neighborhoods RNand patches of remnant vegetation RE. The rank abundance curves Figure 5 indicated that species evenness was low for UP and RG as their steep gradients indicates that urban landscape vegetation github species have much higher proportional abundances frequency of occurrence in plots as measured here than low ranking species, urban landscape vegetation github.
Whereas the shallower initial gradients of GC and RE indicate higher evenness as the abundances of different species are more similar Figure 5. Figure 5. Rank abundance curves based on frequency of all plant species found in golf courses GCremnants Urban landscape vegetation githubresidential neighborhoods RNand urban park UP plots, respectively.
Proportional species abundance vertical axis has been calculated as species abundance divided total abundance. The highest density of dead trees was in RE and GC plots. Very few dead trees were recorded in the other urban landscape vegetation github space types Figure 6J. Figure 6. Lower-case letters indicate urban landscape vegetation github similar values based on pairwise comparisons following GLM Supplementary Material 3.
The average volume of vegetation excluding trees in all green space types was greatest in the 0, urban landscape vegetation github.
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