03107nas a2200277   4500008004100000022001400041245016000055210006900215260001500284300001600299490000700315520219000322653001402512653002102526653002402547653002602571653002402597653001802621100002402639700002302663700002702686700002102713700002102734700001602755856005802771       2021                        eng d  a2045-775800aFunctional diversity and habitat preferences of native grassland plants and ground-dwelling invertebrates in private gardens along an urbanization gradient0 aFunctional diversity and habitat preferences of native grassland  c18/11/2021  a17043-170590 v113 a<p>Urbanization is occurring around the globe, changing environmental conditions and influencing biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Urban domestic gardens represent a small-grained mosaic of diverse habitats for numerous species. The challenging conditions in urban gardens support species possessing certain traits, and exclude other species. Functional diversity is therefore often altered in urban gardens. By using a multi-taxa approach focused on native grassland plants and ground-dwelling invertebrates with overall low mobility (snails, slugs, spiders, millipedes, woodlice, ants, rove beetles), we examined the effects of urbanization (distance to city center, percentage of sealed area) and garden characteristics on functional dispersion, functional evenness, habitat preferences and body size. We conducted a field survey in 35 domestic gardens along a rural?urban gradient in Basel, Switzerland. The various groups showed different responses to urbanization. Functional dispersion of native grassland plants decreased with increasing distance to the city center, while functional dispersion of ants decreased with increasing percentage of sealed area. Functional evenness of ants increased with increasing distance to the city center and that of rove beetles decreased with increasing percentage of sealed area. Contrary to our expectation, in rove beetles, the proportion of generalists decreased with increasing percentage of sealed area in the surroundings, and the proportion of species preferring dry conditions increased with increasing distance to the city center. Body size of species increased with distance to city center for slugs, spiders, millipedes, ants, and rove beetles. Local garden characteristics had few effects on functional diversity and habitat preferences of the groups examined. Our study supports the importance of using multi-taxa approaches when examining effects of environmental change on biodiversity. Considering only a single group may result in misleading findings for overall biodiversity. The ground-dwelling invertebrates investigated may be affected in different ways from the more often-studied flying pollinators or birds.</p>
10abody size10adomestic gardens10adry-adapted species10afunctional dispersion10afunctional evenness10aurban ecology1 aBraschler, Brigitte1 aGilgado, José, D.1 aRusterholz, Hans-Peter1 aBuchholz, Sascha1 aZwahlen, Valerie1 aBaur, Bruno  uhttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.834302840nas a2200205   4500008004100000022001400041245016600055210006900221260001500290300000900305490000700314520210300321100002402424700002302448700002102471700002702492700002102519700001602540856007802556       2020                        eng d  a1932-620300aGround-dwelling invertebrate diversity in domestic gardens along a rural-urban gradient: Landscape characteristics are more important than garden characteristics0 aGrounddwelling invertebrate diversity in domestic gardens along   c02/10/2020  a1-250 v153 a<p>Urbanisation is increasing worldwide and is regarded a major driver of environmental change altering local species assemblages. Private domestic gardens contribute a significant share of total green area in cities, but their biodiversity has received relatively little attention. Previous studies mainly considered plants, flying invertebrates such as bees and butterflies, and birds. By using a multi-taxa approach focused on less mobile, ground-dwelling invertebrates, we examined the influence of local garden characteristics and landscape characteristics on species richness and abundance of gastropods, spiders, millipedes, woodlice, ants, ground beetles and rove beetles. We assume that most of the species of these groups are able to complete their entire life cycle within a single garden. We conducted field surveys in thirty-five domestic gardens along a rural-urban gradient in Basel, Switzerland. Considered together, the gardens examined harboured an impressive species richness, with a mean share of species of the corresponding groups known for Switzerland of 13.9%, ranging from 4.7% in ground beetles to 23.3% in woodlice. The overall high biodiversity is a result of complementary contributions of gardens harbouring distinct species assemblages. Indeed, at the garden level, species richness of different taxonomical groups were typically not inter-correlated. The exception was ant species richness, which was correlated with those of gastropods and spiders. Generalised linear models revealed that distance to the city centre is an important driver of species richness, abundance and composition of several groups, resulting in an altered species composition in gardens in the centre of the city. Local garden characteristics were important drivers of gastropod and ant species richness, and the abundance of spiders, millipedes and rove beetles. Our study shows that domestic gardens make a valuable contribution to regional biodiversity. Thus, domestic urban gardens constitute an important part of green infrastructure, which should be considered by urban planners.</p>
1 aBraschler, Brigitte1 aGilgado, José, D.1 aZwahlen, Valerie1 aRusterholz, Hans-Peter1 aBuchholz, Sascha1 aBaur, Bruno  uhttps://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0240061