Abstract
Abstract Symptoms of anthropogenic changes in the vascular plant flora include the spread of some species groups and the extinction of others. Also habitat condition changes (eutrophication, pollution etc.) and biodiversity loss (at a regional, national and even continental scale) should be mentioned. Numerous papers with rare plant species localities and endangered habitats have been published but the extinction processes and scale of this phenomenon in urban areas where environmental conservation is crucial, are not often analysed. The aim of the present study is to estimate species loss in the vascular plant flora of the town Strzelce Opolskie (Chełm, Silesian Upland) on the basis of the floristic literature and botanical surveys carried out from 2011 to 2013. A comparison has been made between the list of species reported up to 1945 and those species currently occurring in the study area. As a result, a list of 99 species included in the red list of plants of Opole and Silesian voivodeships is presented. Among this group, 45 species are not confirmed after 1945. Numerous extinct and endangered species are from families: Orchidaceae (8 species), Cyperaceae (7 species), Ranunculaceae (7 species) and Lamiaceae (6 species). Strongly represented are species associated with the communities of Festuco-Brometea and Querco- Fagetea classes. From the species presented, 18 species are included in "Red List of Vascular Plants of Poland" (MIREK ET AL. 2006). It was found that the extinct species represent about 7% of Strzelce Opolskie vascular plant flora. It is a focus point for local authorities to protect botanically valuable areas. Actually, the only Miejski Park is under the conservator's protection and there are few individual trees protected due to their age or size.
Highlights
Analyses of extinction processes at the species level are a key issue to be examined by naturalists
The aim of the present a study is to estimate species loss in the vascular plant flora of the Strzelce Opolskie town, made on the basis of a comparison between the lists of species reported up to 1945 with those species currently occurring in the study area and compare the loss of species with other cities around the World
A spatial variation in number of species within grid cells within the defined 1 km2 grid-cells according to a system proposed in "Distribution Atlas of Vascular Plants in Poland - ATPOL" (ZAJĄC & ZAJĄC, 2001)
Summary
Analyses of extinction processes at the species level are a key issue to be examined by naturalists. Extinction is a natural process but in recent years it has increased rapidly as a result of human activities. Many native species are unable to fit into changing environments. They often show very high habitat specificity to particular biotic and abiotic elements of their environment. As BRIGGS (2010) points, following the theory of natural selection, it is proposed that at each change in human land use, selection favours species having the highest Darwinian fitness (the so called winners) in that particular habitat, while other species of lesser fitness decline (the so called losers). Population size decreases, the general number of localities becomes limited and at last species become extinct
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