Factors affecting the diversity of flora and vegetation in central European settlements

✍ Scribed by Pyšek, P.

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 950 KB
• Volume: 106
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1573-5052
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00044860

✦ Synopsis

Published data on the number of plant species and/or communities were gathered for 77 European cities and 85 villages. The relationships between the floristic and vegetation diversity and some environmental variables were analysed. Species number in cities showed log linear increase with city size (expressed as the population size or city area). A linear increase in the species number with size was found in the village flora. The richness of both city and village flora was not significantly related to any climatic variable. On the contrary, the number of communities in both villages and cities was correlated not only with settlement size but also with altitude and mean annual temperature. The diversity of village vegetation was closely related to the climax type of the respective region. The features of human settlements that make it possible to consider them as landscape islands are discussed.