Luxury and legacy effects on urban biodiversity, vegetation cover and ecosystem services

Abstract

Socio-economic and historical drivers shape urban nature distribution and characteristics, as luxury (wealth-related) and legacy (historical management) effects. Using remote sensing and census data on biodiversity and socio-economic indicators, we examined these effects on urban biodiversity and vegetation cover in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Country). We also tested the luxury and legacy hypotheses on regulating ecosystem services (ES) and explored predictor interactions. Higher educational attainment positively correlated with urban biodiversity, confirming the luxury effect, but had no effect on vegetation cover or ES. Older areas had higher vegetation cover and ES evidencing a legacy effect with an inverse response on biodiversity, attributable to more recent management strategies promoting biodiversity in green spaces. Habitat quality amplified the luxury effect, while population density strengthened the legacy effect. Our results suggest that urban biodiversity is mainly driven by socio-economic factors, while vegetation cover and ES are influenced by management legacies in interaction with population density.