Alien flora on walls in southern and western Moravia
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2008 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Plant Invasions: Human perception, ecological impacts and management |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Botany |
| Keywords | alien species; wall flora |
| Description | Walls are specific man-made habitats, typical of human settlements and exposed to strong antropogenous influences. Nevertheless, they provide new ecological niches and can be occupied by different types of synanthropic vegetation. Colonization of walls by vascular plants strongly depends on the availability of diaspores from the surrounding ruderal or semi-natural vegetation types. This study focuses on the wall vegetation in southern and western Moravia, Czech Republic. In total, species composition of 302 plots was recorded on vertical and horizontal wall surfaces in villages, towns and on castle ruins together with the information about local conditions, walls surroundings and macroclimate. Altogether, 288 species of vascular plants and 39 bryophytes were recorded. Flora of the studied walls included 40 % of alien species. Compared with the representation of alien species on walls reported from other parts of the Czech Republic, this proportion is rather high and results from presence of several garden-escapes, deliberate introductions by man for ornamental purposes and higher annual temperature in the study area. The representation of archaeophytes was 24 % and the most common species were Chelidonium majus, Capsella bursa-pastoris, Bromus sterilis, Ballota nigra and Sonchus oleraceus. Neophytes made up 16 % of the total species number and the most frequent species were Conyza canadensis, Syringa vulgaris, Sisymbrium loeselii, Erigeron annuus and Sedum spurium. The ratio of native species, archaeophytes and neophytes was assessed with regard to the wall microhabitats, type of human settlement and altitudinal gradient in the study region. Moreover, the composition of families, life forms, life strategies and dispersal strategies of plants colonizing walls was described. The relationship between species composition and enviromental factors was analyzed with canonical correspondence analysis. |
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