Diversity of Ruderal Communities in Urban Environments—A Case Study from Serbia (SE Europe)

Slobodan Jovanović,Nevena Kuzmanović,Snežana Vukojičić,Dmitar Lakušić,Milena Tabašević

doi:10.3390/d13120638

Slobodan Jovanović, Nevena Kuzmanović + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/d13120638

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Journal: Diversity	Publication Date: Dec 3, 2021
Citations: 2	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Belgrade

Abstract

The high diversity of ruderal vegetation in urban environments is well known. Although it has been a subject of numerous studies in Serbia, in recent years it has been slightly overlooked, although, due to the dynamics of ruderal habitats, constant research is required. We investigated ruderal vegetation in 20 cities across Serbia during a period of 5 years. Most of the relevés were collected during the summer months, and within 712 relevés, 422 taxa were recorded. Results of the cluster analyses and identified diagnostic species revealed 26 plant communities, of which nine are dominated or co-dominated by aliens. The relevés can be grouped into six ecologically well-differentiated major vegetation groups. Our study revealed the ruderal communities which are the most widespread in urban environments in Serbia. Additionally, some communities were registered for the first time in the country.

Highlights

Urban sprawl is a major cause of global landscape change and affects species composition and richness, favoring ruderal and non-native plant species [1]
These unique environmental conditions are reflected in plant communities and lead to high diversity of urban vegetation [4,6,7,8]
Six major vegetation groups can be recognized on the dendrogram (A, B, C, D, E, F). These are well separated, and ecologically welldifferentiated, as confirmed by detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) analysis, which showed some general characteristics of the studied vegetation (Figure 3)

Summary

Introduction

Urban sprawl is a major cause of global landscape change and affects species composition and richness, favoring ruderal and non-native plant species [1]. Ruderal habitats are unstable and highly dynamic, and are characterized by irregular disturbances of varying magnitude that result in patchy vegetation [2,3]. These patches form an extremely heterogeneous mosaic of habitats in cities, where the influence of various abiotic factors, i.e., climatic, geological, pedological, orographic, and other factors, is highly modified [4]. These unique environmental conditions are reflected in plant communities and lead to high diversity of urban vegetation [4,6,7,8]

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