w ww ww w. .f fr ro on nt ti ie er rs si in ne ec co ol lo og gy y. .o or rg g E dgar Anderson proclaimed that "man carries whole RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS Effects of urbanization on plant species diversity in central ArizonaJ Ja as so on n S S W Wa al lk ke er r 1 1* * , , N Na an nc cy y B B G Gr ri im mm m 1 1 , , J Jo oh hn n M M B Br ri ig gg gs s 1 1, ,2 2 , , C Co or ri in nn na a G Gr ri ie es s 3 3 , , a an nd d L La au ur ra a D Du ug ga an n 4 4Modern urban development provides an excellent laboratory for examining the interplay among socioecological relationships. We analyzed how the rapidly urbanizing Phoenix, Arizona metropolis has affected plant species diversity and community composition at a regional scale. Species diversity and plant density probably result from abiotic sorting in undeveloped desert sites, but not in urban sites. We found that species richness at the plot scale was higher for desert as opposed to urban sites; however, the estimated total species pool in the urban ecosystem is higher than that in the desert, as a result of the increased importation of introduced species through the nursery trade. Ordination of plant communities suggests three unique groupings of species based on land-use type of the site (desert, urban, and agriculture) and two unique groupings of urban sites based on landscaping aesthetics (mesic or xeric). We therefore recognize both bottom-up and top-down controls of plant biodiversity within the urban ecosystem.

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A prevailing image of the city is of the steel and concrete downtown skyline. The more common experience of urban residents, however, is a place of irrigated and fertilized green spaces, such as yards, gardens, and parks, surrounding homes and businesses where people commonly feed birds, squirrels, and other wildlife. Within these highly human-modified environments, researchers are becoming increasingly curious about how fundamental ecological phenomena play out, such as the feeding relationships among species. While food webs have long provided a tool for organizing information about feeding relationships and energy flows through natural habitats, they have not been applied to urban ecosystems until recently (Faeth et al. 2005).

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