Journal article
Functional trait changes in the floras of 11 cities across the globe in response to urbanization
E Palma, JA Catford, RT Corlett, RP Duncan, AK Hahs, MA McCarthy, MJ McDonnell, K Thompson, NSG Williams, PA Vesk
Ecography | WILEY | Published : 2017
DOI: 10.1111/ecog.02516
Abstract
Urbanization causes major environmental changes globally, which can potentially homogenize biota across cities through the loss and gain of particular types of species. We examine whether urban environments consistently select for plants with particular traits and the implications of such changes on the functional composition of urban floras. We classified plant recorded in 11 cities around the globe as species that have either colonized (arrived and naturalized), persisted or been lost (local extirpation) following urbanization. We analyzed how 10 traits previously linked with plant responses to environmental conditions explained membership of these three groups, by comparing colonisers wit..
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Awarded by Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, Australian Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
The database used for this analysis was initially compiled by the 'Plant traits and urbanization' working group funded by the ARC-NZ Network for Vegetation Function. EP would like to thank Maud Bernard-Verdier for stimulating conversations on functional change. EP was supported by a Melbourne International Research Scholarship and a Melbourne International Fee Remission Scholarship, granted by the Univ. of Melbourne. JAC, MAM and PAV were supported by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions. AKH and MJM would like to acknowledge funding from the Baker Foundation and JAC from the ARC (DE120102221).