Plant Biodiversity in Urbanized Areas Plant Functional Traits in Spa
Urbanization is one of the main drivers of global change. It often takes place in areas with high biodiversity, threatening species worldwide. To protect biodiversity not only outside but also right within urban areas, knowledge about the effects of urban
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VIEWEG+TEUBNER RESEARCH
Sonja Knapp
Plant Biodiversity in Urbanized Areas Plant Functional Traits in Space and Time, Plant Rarity and Phylogenetic Diversity
With forewords by Dr. Stefan Klotz and Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Wittig
VIEWEG+TEUBNER RESEARCH
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
Dissertation Universität Frankfurt, 2009 D 30
1st Edition 2010 All rights reserved © Vieweg+Teubner | GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden 2010 Reader: Dorothee Koch | Anita Wilke Vieweg+Teubner is part of the specialist publishing group Springer Science+Business Media. www.viewegteubner.de No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. Registered and/or industrial names, trade names, trade descriptions etc. cited in this publication are part of the law for trade-mark protection and may not be used free in any form or by any means even if this is not specifically marked. Cover design: KünkelLopka Medienentwicklung, Heidelberg Printing company: STRAUSS GMBH, Mörlenbach Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany ISBN 978-3-8348-0923-0
Foreword Urban areas are increasing more and more and human’s first contact to nature will take place in cities. More than 50 % of the world’s human population is concentrated in urban areas; this number is even higher in Central Europe. These are the main reasons for the increasing number of studies on urban ecology including urban flora and vegetation. One surprising outcome of these studies was the higher species richness in urban areas in comparison to the open cultural landscape in Central Europe. This stable pattern has been found within several studies on several cities since the 70s of the last century. The main tasks of the dissertation of Sonja Knapp can be summarised in the following questions: What are the main causes for higher species richness and what processes govern this pattern? Is species richness linked with ecological traits and is species richness in urban areas linked with phylogenetic diversity? Sonja Knapp’s dissertation “Plant Biodiversity in Urbanized Areas – Analyses of Plant Functional Traits in Space and Time, Plant Rarity and Phylogenetic Diversity” presents new insights into biodiversity processes in urban areas. First, the trait composition within urban floras is significantly different from nonurban floras; second, urbanization threatens rare native species, while common native species and aliens profit from urban land use; third, a clear trait shift was found within a time series of floras (over more than 300 years) of the city of Halle (Saale) comparable to spatial differences between urban and non-urban landscapes; fourth, it was shown that the phylogenetic diversi
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