Urban domestic gardens (I): Putting small‐scale plant diversity in context

Abstract

Abstract. As part of a larger survey of biodiversity in gardens in Sheffield, UK, we examined the composition and diversity of the flora in two 1‐m2 quadrats in each of 60 gardens, and compared this with floristic data from semi‐natural habitats in central England and derelict urban land in Birmingham, UK. Garden quadrats contained more than twice as many taxa as those from any other habitat type. Ca. 33 % of garden plants were natives and 67 % aliens, mainly from Europe and Asia. A higher proportion of garden aliens originated from Asia and New Zealand than in the UK alien flora as a whole; 18 of the 20 most frequent plants in garden quadrats were natives, mostly common weeds. Garden quadrats showed no evidence of ‘nestedness’, i.e. a tendency for scarce species to be confined to the highest diversity quadrats. Conversely, species in all semi‐natural and derelict land data sets were significantly nested. Compared to a range of semi‐natural habitats, species richness of garden quadrats was intermediate, and strikingly similar to the richness of derelict land quadrats. Although species accumulation curves for all other habitats showed signs of saturation at 120 quadrats, gardens did not. Correlations between Sørensen similarity index and physical distance were insignificant for all habitat types, i.e. there was little evidence that physical distance played any part in structuring the composition of the quadrats in any of the data sets. However, garden quadrats were much less similar to each other than quadrats from semi‐natural habitats or derelict land.

Spatial variation in haemoglobin concentration of nestling Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus): a long-term perspective

“…Additionally, long-term year-to-year changes in haemoglobin concentration were correlated with frassfall peaks in the forest site. Bańbura et al (2007) found a strong association between haemoglobin concentration in Blue Tit nestlings and the amount of caterpillars during the time of extremely high abundance of caterpillars in seasons 2003-2005. Chamberlain et al (2009 showed in their meta-analysis that urban bird populations are characterized by lower productivity (lower clutch sizes, lower fledging success) and worse body condition (lower nestling weights) than nonurban populations.…”

“…Gorrisen et al (2005) showed that male Great Tits (Parus major) that bred closest to a pollution source had a more limited song repertoire and were less frequent singers. An additional challenge for urban birds may be that any new vegetation planted by people is usually unlikely to resemble pre-settlement habitat (Cook et al 2013;Thomson et al 2003). Because the measuring of habitat quality in a direct way is often not feasible, the evaluation of individual condition offers an alternative method to assess habitat quality (Homyack 2010;Ellis et al 2012).…”

Local and Landscape Correlates of Spider Activity Density and Species Richness in Urban Gardens

“…Arthropod predators also provide a variety of ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes such as pest control and nutrient cycling (McIntyre et al 2001, Isaacs et al 2009). Green spaces within urban ecosystems can benefit from these services, and provide habitat and resources for arthropods within densely developed cities (Thompson et al 2003, McKinney 2008. Urban gardens differ from other green spaces in urban environments.…”

How to Achieve Effectiveness in Problem-Oriented Landscape Research: The Example of Research on Biotic Invasions

“…The influence of human factors on the occurrence of invasive species in urban areas is, for instance, evident in the cases of the vegetation composition of green spaces (e.g. Thompson et al, 2003), or the presence of invasive fire ants (Plowes et al, 2007).…”