Drivers of plant diversity and community composition in urban forest remnants in a metropolitan landscape

Titelangaben

Schrauth, Fabian Etienne ; Bässler, Claus ; Zizka, Georg:
Drivers of plant diversity and community composition in urban forest remnants in a metropolitan landscape.
In: Trees, Forests and People. Bd. 28 (2026) . - 101480.
ISSN 2666-7193
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101480

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Abstract

Urban forest remnants are biodiversity hotspots in cities and refuges for plants specialised on forest habitats. However, they are exposed to a variety of anthropogenic influences including isolation, fragmentation and high densities of neophytes. For an adequate management of these sites, it is essential to understand the effects of local environmental factors and the surrounding landscape configuration on forest plant communities. So far, studies on plant communities in urban woodlands are scarce and mainly focus on selected groups, such as forest specialists or neophytes. Further, they are predominantly based on vegetation plots, often underrepresenting disturbed sites like forest edges or trails. Here, we investigated the entire flora of 19 forest remnants with long habitat continuity in a highly urbanised metropolitan region in Germany. We applied multivariate statistical models to identify the relevant local and landscape variables driving the species number of the entire vascular plant communities, indigenous versus neophytic species and four groups with different affinities for forest habitats. Patch area was a significant predictor of the species number in each model. Species with high restriction to forest were additionally related to the average canopy cover and species with medium restriction were positively affected by adjacent woodland. Plants with low forest affinity and neophytes were positively influenced by built-up areas. We suggest that management strategies should include local measures like reducing the path network and removing garden waste, as well as optimising the surrounding landscape configuration through maintenance of connective elements and reduction of exotic plants in adjacent settlements.