Abstract
Remnant forests in urban areas are hotspots of urban biodiversity. However, the survival and integrity of many remnant forests are currently at risk. Better knowledge of the interactions between remnant forests and urban environments is urgently needed for guiding the conservation effort. In this study, we intend to answer the question: how do patch attributes and landscape patterns of surrounding environments affect the taxonomic diversity of woody plants in urban forest remnants? We surveyed the woody plant species in 240 sample plots in 54 remnant forest patches in Guiyang City, China. We analyzed the taxonomic diversity of woody plants and the effects of influencing factors using multi-level taxonomic diversity indicators and the generalized dissimilarity modeling. The results showed that shrubs had higher within-patch α-diversity than that of trees. However, adult trees had higher among-group β-diversity than those of shrubs and saplings/seedlings. The vegetation type of the patch had more influence than other factors on the compositional dissimilarity of adult trees and sapling/seedling among patches. The patch size had the highest impact on the compositional dissimilarity of shrubs. Besides, small patches had a higher rate of compositional turnover in all woody plants. The percentage of impervious surfaces in surrounding areas and the spatial distance from each other were the main influencing factors for adult trees and saplings/seedlings, respectively. Based on our results, we recommend that more attention should be paid to preserve the small remnant forest patches and protect sampling/seedlings to maintain the taxonomic diversity of urban remnant forests.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aguilar R, Ashworth L, Galetto L, Aizen MA (2006) Plant reproductive susceptibility to habitat fragmentation: review and synthesis through a meta-analysis. Ecol Lett 9:968–980. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2006.00927.x
Akinyemi DS, Remi OS, Shakoor A, Olajide OS (2019) Nestedness and modularity in fragmented Shasha Forest reserve, southwestern Nigeria. J Sustain Forest 38:292–304. https://doi.org/10.1080/10549811.2018.1546598
Alberti M (2010) Maintaining ecological integrity and sustaining ecosystem function in urban areas. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 2:178–184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2010.07.002
Barth BJ, FitzGibbon SI, Wilson RS (2015) New urban developments that retain more remnant trees have greater bird diversity. Landsc Urban Plan 136:122–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2014.11.003
Bonte D, Van Dyck H, Bullock JM, Coulon A, Delgado M, Gibbs M, Lehouck V, Matthysen E, Mustin K, Saastamoinen M, Schtickzelle N, Stevens VM, Vandewoestijne S, Baguette M, Barton K, Benton TG, Chaput-Bardy A, Clobert AJ, Dytham C, Hovestadt T, Meier CM, Palmer SCF, Turlure C, Travis JMJ (2012) Costs of dispersal. Biol Rev 87:290–312. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-185X.2011.00201.x
Capmourteres V, Anand M (2016) Assessing ecological integrity: a multi-scale structural and functional approach using structural equation Modeling. Ecol Indic 71:258–269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.07.006
Carreiro MM, Tripler CE (2005) Forest remnants along urban-rural gradients: examining their potential for global change research. Ecosystems 8:568–582. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-003-0172-6
Caryl FM, Thomson K, Ree R (2013) Permeability of the urban matrix to arboreal gliding mammals: sugar gliders in Melbourne, Australia. Aust Ecol 38:609–616. https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.12006
Chen Q (2004) Flora of Guizhou. Guizhou Science and Technology Press, Guiyang (in Chinese)
Dray S, Dufour AB, Thioulouse J (2018) ade4: Analysis of ecological data: exploratory and Euclidean methods in environmental sciences. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=ade4
Echeverría C, Newton AC, Lara A, Benayas JMR, Coomes DA (2007) Impacts of forest fragmentation on species composition and forest structure in the temperate landscape of southern Chile. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 16:426–439. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1466-8238.2007.00311.x
Fahey RT, Casali M (2017) Distribution of forest ecosystems over two centuries in a highly urbanized landscape. Landsc Urban Plan 164:13–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2017.03.008
Fang J, Wang X, Shen Z, Tang Z, He J, Yu D, Jiang Y, Wang Z, Zheng C, Zhu J, Gao Z (2009) Methods and protocols for plant community inventory. Biol Sci 17:533–548. https://doi.org/10.3724/SP.J.1003.2009.09253 (in Chinese)
Ferrier S, Manion G, Elith J, Richardson K (2007) Using generalized dissimilarity modelling to analyse and predict patterns of beta diversity in regional biodiversity assessment. Divers Distrib 13:252–264. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1472-4642.2007.00341.x
Guiyang Ecological Environment Bureau (2005) The Forest Resources Inventory Data of Guiyang
Guiyang Municipal Bureau of Statistics (1997) Statistical yearbook of Guiyang. China Statistics Press, Beijing (in Chinese)
Guiyang Municipal Bureau of Statistics (2018) Statistical yearbook of Guiyang. China Statistics Press, Beijing (in Chinese)
Hahs AK, Mcdonnell MJ (2007) Composition of the plant community in remnant patches of grassy woodland along an urban-rural gradient in Melbourne, Australia. Urban Ecosyst 10:355–377. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-007-0034-7
Harper KA et al (2005) Edge influence on forest structure and composition in fragmented landscapes. Conserv Biol 19:768–782. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2005.00045.x
Heckmann KE, Manley PN, Schlesinger MD (2008) Ecological integrity of remnant montane forests along an urban gradient in the Sierra Nevada. Forest Ecol Manag 255:2453–2466. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2008.01.005
Huang CH, Yang J, Jiang P (2018) Assessing impacts of urban form on landscape structure of urban green spaces in China using Landsat images based on Google earth engine. Remote Sens-Basel 10:1569. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10101569
Jesus FM, Pivello VR, Meirelles ST, Franco GADC, Metzger JP (2012) The importance of landscape structure for seed dispersal in rain forest fragments. J Veg Sci 23:1126–1136. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1654-1103.2012.01418.x
König C, Weigelt P, Kreft H (2017) Dissecting global turnover in vascular plants. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 26:228–242. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12536
Körner C (2012) Treelines will be understood once the functional difference between a tree and a shrub is. Ambio 41:197–206. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-012-0313-2
Kowarik I, von der Lippe M (2018) Plant population success across urban ecosystems: a framework to inform biodiversity conservation in cities. J Appl Ecol 55:2354–2361. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13144
Legendre P, Borcard D, Peres-Neto PR (2005) Analyzing beta diversity: partitioning the spatial variation of community composition data. Ecol Monogr 75:435–450. https://doi.org/10.1890/05-0549
Lososová Z, Chytrý M, Tichý L, Danihelka J, Fajmon K, Hájek O, Kintrová K, Láníková D, Otýpková Z, Řehořek V (2012) Biotic homogenization of central European urban floras depends on residence time of alien species and habitat types. Biol Conserv 145:179–184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2011.11.003
Lugo-Perez J, Sabat-Guernica AM (2011) Structure and composition of woody plants in urban forest remnants with different adjacent land-use and slope aspect. Urban Ecosyst 14:45–58. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-010-0139-2
MacArthur RD, Wilson EO (1967) The theory island biogeography. Princton University Press, Princton
Malkinson D, Kopel D, Wittenberg L (2018) From rural-urban gradients to patch-matrix frameworks: plant diversity patterns in urban landscapes. Landsc Urban Plan 169:260–268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2017.09.021
Manion G, Lisk M, Ferrier S, Nieto-Lugilde D, Mokany K, Fitzpatrick MC (2018) gdm: Generalized dissimilarity modeling. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=gdm
Moffatt SF, McLachlan SM, Kenkel NC (2004) Impacts of land use on riparian forest along an urban–rural gradient in southern Manitoba. Plant Ecol 174:119–135. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:VEGE.0000046055.27285.fd
Nielsen AB, van den Bosch M, Maruthaveeran S, van den Bosch CK (2014) Species richness in urban parks and its drivers: a review of empirical evidence. Urban Ecosyst 17:305–327. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-013-0316-1
Niemelä J, Saarela S-R, Söderman T, Kopperoinen L, Yli-Pelkonen V, Väre S, Kotze DJ (2010) Using the ecosystem services approach for better planning and conservation of urban green spaces: a Finland case study. Biodivers Conserv 19:3225–3243. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-010-9888-8
Niu HY, Xing JJ, Zhang HM, Wang D, Wang XR (2018) Roads limit of seed dispersal and seedling recruitment of Quercus chenii in an urban hillside forest. Urban For Urban Gree 30:307–314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2018.01.023
Nock CA, Paquette A, Follett M, Nowak DJ, Messie C (2013) Effects of urbanization on tree species functional diversity in eastern North America. Ecosystems 16:1487–1497. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-013-9697-5
Olejniczak MJ, Spiering DJ, Potts DL, Warren RJ (2018) Urban forests form isolated archipelagos. J Urban Ecol 4:juy007. https://doi.org/10.1093/jue/juy007
Pavoine S (2017) adiv: Analysis of diversity. https://cran.r-project.org/package=adiv
Pavoine S, Marcon E, Ricotta C (2016) ‘Equivalent numbers’ for species, phylogenetic or functional diversity in a nested hierarchy of multiple scales. Methods Ecol Evol 7:1152–1163. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12591
R Core Team (2019) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R for Statistical Computing, Vienna. https://www.R-Project.org
Ramalho CE, Laliberte E, Poot P, Hobbs RJ (2014) Complex effects of fragmentation on remnant woodland plant communities of a rapidly urbanizing biodiversity hotspot. Ecology 95:2466–2478. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1239.1
Ribeiro EMS, Santos BA, Arroyo-Rodriguez V, Tabarelli M, Souza G, Leal IR (2016) Phylogenetic impoverishment of plant communities following chronic human disturbances in the Brazilian Caatinga. Ecology 97:1583–1592. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-1122.1
Ricotta C, Szeidl L (2009) Diversity partitioning of Rao’s quadratic entropy. Theor Popul Biol 76:299–302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tpb.2009.10.001
Roloff A, Korn S, Gillner S (2009) The climate-species-matrix to select tree species for urban habitats considering climate change. Urban For Urban Gree 8:295–308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2009.08.002
Scheiner SM (2003) Six types of species–area curves. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 12:441–447. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1466-822X.2003.00061.x
Scheiner SM, Willig MR (2005) Developing unified theories in ecology as exemplified with diversity gradients. Am Nat 166:458–469. https://doi.org/10.1086/444402
Schnitzler A, Borlea F (1998) Lessons from natural forests as keys for sustainable management and improvement of naturalness in managed broadleaved forests. Forest Ecol Manag 109:293–303. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-1127(98)00263-1
Sewell SR, Catterall CP (1998) Bushland modification and styles of urban development: their effects on birds in south-East Queensland. Wildl Res 25:41–63. https://doi.org/10.1071/WR96078
Stamps JA, Buechner M, Krishnan VV (1987) The effects of edge permeability and habitat geometry on emigration from patches of habitat. Am Nat 129:533–552. https://doi.org/10.1086/284656
Stiles A, Scheiner SM (2010) A multi-scale analysis of fragmentation effects on remnant plant species richness in Phoenix, Arizona. J Biogeogr 37:1721–1729. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2010.02333.x
Threlfall CG, Ossola A, Hahs AK, Williams NSG, Wilson L, Livesley SJ (2016) Variation in vegetation structure and composition across urban green space types. Front Ecol Evol 4:66. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2016.00066
Uchida K, Fujimoto H, Ushimaru A (2018) Urbanization promotes the loss of seasonal dynamics in the semi-natural grasslands of an east Asian megacity. Basic Appl Ecol 29:1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2018.03.009
Valiente-Banuet A, Verdú M (2007) Facilitation can increase the phylogenetic diversity of plant communities. Ecol Lett 10:1029–1036. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2007.01100.x
Van Rossum F (2008) Conservation of long-lived perennial forest herbs in an urban context: Primula elatior as study case. Conserv Genet 9:119–128. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-007-9314-2
Wang S, Yu B (2010) Germplasm resources of spermatophyte in Guiyang. Guizhou Science and Technology Press, Guiyang (in Chinese)
Wickham JD, Stehman SV, Fry JA, Smith JH, Homer CG (2010) Thematic accuracy of the NLCD 2001 land cover for the conterminous United States. Remote Sens Environ 114:1286–1296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2010.01.018
Williams MR (2011) Habitat resources, remnant vegetation condition and area determine distribution patterns and abundance of butterflies and day-flying moths in a fragmented urban landscape, Southwest Western Australia. J Insect Conserv 15:37–54. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-010-9307-1
Wintle BA, Kujala H, Whitehead A, Cameron A, Veloz S, Kukkala A, Moilanen A, Gordon A, Lentini PE, Cadenhead NCR, Bekessy SA (2018) Global synthesis of conservation studies reveals the importance of small habitat patches for biodiversity. P Natl Acad Sci 116:909–914. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1813051115
Yan P, Yang J (2017) Species diversity of urban forests in China. Urban For Urban Gree 28:160–166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2017.09.005
Zelnik YR, Arnoldi JF, Loreau M (2018) The impact of spatial and temporal dimensions of disturbances on ecosystem stability. Front Ecol Evol 6:224. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2018.00224
Zhang D, Zheng H, He X, Ren Z, Zhai C, Yu X, Mao Z, Wang P (2016) Effects of forest type and urbanization on species composition and diversity of urban forest in Changchun, Northeast China. Urban Ecosyst 19:455–473. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-015-0473-5
Zipperer WC (2002) Species composition and structure of regenerated and remnant forest patches within an urban landscape. Urban Ecosyst 6:271–290. https://doi.org/10.1023/b:ueco.0000004827.12561.d4
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
ESM 1
(XLSX 147 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yang, J., Yang, J., Xing, D. et al. Impacts of the remnant sizes, forest types, and landscape patterns of surrounding areas on woody plant diversity of urban remnant forest patches. Urban Ecosyst 24, 345–354 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-020-01040-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-020-01040-z