Phylogenetic diversity of central-European urban plant communities: effects of alien species and habitat types
2015
Urban habitats differ in their disturbance regimes, which act
as an environmental filter determining plant community species
composition. This is why plant communities in different urban
habitats provide a suitable model for studying the effects of
disturbance on phylogenetic diversity. We explore how
phylogenetic diversity varies across urban plant communities
and whether the introduction of alien species changes the
phylogenetic diversity of resident communities of native
species. In 32 cities in central Europe and Benelux countries
we studied seven types of habitats subject to different
disturbance regimes. Plots of 1 ha were sampled in each habitat
by recording all spontaneously occurring species of vascular
plants. A phylogenetic tree was constructed for all recorded
species and phylogenetic diversity based on phylogenetic
distances was calculated for each plot. A null model
corresponding to random distribution of species on the
phylogenetic tree was used to test whether phylogenetic
diversity is non-random. Phylogenetic diversity was compared
between the subsets of native and alien species, further
divided into archaeophytes and neophytes. Phylogenetic
diversity of plant communities in all the urban habitats
studied was lower than in the null model. It varied with the
disturbance regime in all the species subsets (native species,
archaeophytes and neophytes). Introduction of alien species
reduced phylogenetic diversity of the urban plant communities
studied. Archaeophytes (widespread and common species that had
enough time to spread to all suitable habitats) tended to
decrease phylogenetic diversity more strongly than neophytes
(often rare species which are still spreading and depend on
dispersal vectors). Low phylogenetic diversity of disturbed
plant communities in urban habitats probably results from
strong environmental filtering, which selects species from a
limited number of lineages that have traits that enable them to
survive in disturbed habitats.
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