Urban Wastelands’ Contribution to Ecological Connectivity

Abstract

Urban wastelands can play a significant role in habitat continuity in fragmented landscapes such as cities, as they can act as stepping-stones for urban green networks that should be considered in ecological planning. This study aims to characterize urban wasteland contributions to the green network in two urban areas in France by studying their structural connectivity, to test the link between urbanization and wasteland plant communities, and to assess the extent that potential connectivity is considered in ecological planning. We suggest that spatial proximity, and especially urban similarity, influence wasteland plant communities: increasingly different urban characteristics result in increasingly dissimilar plant communities. We also show that plant community diversity is influenced by urban characteristics: plant communities are more similar in low urbanization contexts and more diversified in highly urbanized areas. The comparison between potential wasteland connectivity mapped at the city scale and the current ecological plan shows that urban wasteland potentialities for ecological connectivity are considered in ecological planning. In addition to integrating specific urban areas in ecological mapping, green networks should consider the importance of temporary spaces of nature, such as wastelands, since their spatiotemporal dynamics may contribute greatly to biodiversity conservation within cities.