Homogenization of plant diversity, composition, and structure in North American urban yards

Pearse, William D.; Cavender‐Bares, Jeannine; Hobbie, Sarah E.; Avolio, Meghan L.; Bettez, Neil D.; Chowdhury, Rinku Roy; Darling, Lindsay; Groffman, Peter M.; Grove, J. Morgan; Hall, Sharon J.; Heffernan, James B.; Learned, Jennifer; Neill, Christopher; Nelson, Kristen C.; Pataki, Diane E.; Ruddell, Benjamin L.; Steele, Meredith K.; Trammell, Tara L. E.

doi:10.1002/ecs2.2105

Cited by 77 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 68 publications

(150 reference statements)

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“…, Groffman ). For example, previous research in the United States has demonstrated urban homogenization by showing that yard floras are compositionally and structurally more similar than the corresponding floras in surrounding natural areas (Wheeler , Pearse ). However, biotic homogenization might also be assessed within and across cities, by comparing the relative similarities of different components of vegetation among yards or other urban habitats (Lososová et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, non‐native species also have the potential to increase phylogenetic diversity and species richness. Cultivated and spontaneous non‐native species in yards are affected by different filtering and sorting processes (Groffman , Pearse ) and may thus have contrasting effects on the composition of yard floras. A critical gap remains in our understanding of the influence of non‐native species on community assembly in urban plant communities and their role in shaping composition and diversity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this study, we build on previous research on biotic homogenization of residential yards in the United States (Groffman , , Polsky , Wheeler , Pearse ) to quantify floristic compositional similarities across and within cities and determine what plant traits promote homogenization. Unlike previous studies, we specifically explored the extent to which non‐native species contribute to the homogenization/differentiation of phylogenetic composition (using phylogenetic dissimilarities), thus incorporating phylogenetic information into traditional methods of studying communities like ordination that treat all species as independent and equally dissimilar.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contribution of non‐native plants to the phylogenetic homogenization of U.S. yard floras

et al. 2019

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Cultivation and spread of non‐native plant species may result in either phylogenetic homogenization (increasing similarity) or differentiation (decreasing similarity) of urban floras. However, it is unknown how non‐native species influence homogenization of cultivated versus spontaneously occurring species in cities, and which traits are associated with species that promote homogenization versus differentiation. In this study, we compared homogenization effects of cultivated and spontaneous non‐native species in yard floras across and within seven widely distributed U.S. cities. Additionally, we explored which traits explained their particular contribution to homogenization. We recorded plant presence/absence in 178 private yards distributed among seven metropolitan statistical areas in the United States. We compared phylogenetic homogenization effects of non‐native species within both the cultivated and spontaneous species pools using phylogenetic dissimilarities and the homogenization index. Then, we expressed contributions of non‐native species to the homogenization of each pool as a function of two different sets of plant functional traits using phylogenetic generalized least square (PGLS) models across and within cities. Across cities, spontaneous non‐native species homogenized, and cultivated non‐native species differentiated, yard floras. Within the spontaneous pool, short, small‐seeded non‐native plants and non‐native grasses significantly homogenized yard floras. Within the cultivated pool, species contribution to homogenization was best predicted by plant height, presence of showy flowers, and growth form, with non‐native grasses significantly homogenizing cultivated yard floras. Within cities, non‐native species—whether they were cultivated or spontaneous—consistently homogenized yard floras of the three northern cities and differentiated yard floras of three of the four southern cities, suggesting that homogenization processes are context‐ and scale‐dependent. Likewise, traits explaining homogenization differed substantially among cities. The inconsistent patterns among cities in the plant traits that promoted homogenization of both cultivated and spontaneous species suggest that local environmental and anthropogenic conditions of individual cities imposed strong constraints on trait selection. Linking plant functional traits that promote homogenization with residents’ preferences for vegetation may further enhance understanding of how yard plant communities assemble at regional and local scales.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contribution of non‐native plants to the phylogenetic homogenization of U.S. yard floras

et al. 2019

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“…For instance, such tenants as the 10-20-30 rule (Santamour 1990) are subject to misinterpretation when based on data collected using different sampling intensities (Kendal et al 2014). For example, Pearse et al (2018) collected data from 21 to 30 urban household yards and 3 to 6 natural area sites in their study of ecological homogenization across seven metropolitan areas. Thus, evaluating the effectiveness of this rule requires certainty when estimating the proportion of individuals in each species, each genus, and each family.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous urban ecology studies that test the hypothesis of ecological homogenization have used Jaccard's index (McKinney 2006), Sørensen's index (Pearse et al 2018 (Yang et al 2017, Avolio et al 2018, and a variety of qualitative methods, as well as specifically designed protocols which have included data on herbaceous vegetation and soils (Groffman et al 2014). Our study, which further incorporated disparate data sources, demonstrates that the Raup-Crick dissimilarity indices, based on presence/absence data, are robust to sampling differences.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing methods for comparing species diversity from disparate data sources: the case of urban and peri‐urban forests

2018

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Multi-scale forest inventory and monitoring data are increasingly being used in studies assessing forest diversity, structure, disturbance, and carbon dynamics. Also, local-level urban forest inventories are providing plot data and protocols to study tree diversity and ecosystem services in urban forests worldwide. But, differences in the sampling methods underlying these disparate protocols and data sources is a non-trivial concern in formulating comparative analyses. We assess commonly used methods for comparing tree diversity in peri-urban and urban forests when available data have different sample sizes, plot sizes, and sampling intensities. We present methods for appropriately evaluating species richness, as well as methods for comparing species distributions via community data matrices. Using permanent plot data from the southeastern United States, we present a case study comparing urban and peri-urban forests along a north-south gradient, and assessing species richness and the ecological homogenization hypothesis. Our findings indicate that comparisons of tree species richness among communities, or forest types, are often inconclusive since commonly used sample sizes do not provide precise estimates of the number of species present. While the ecological homogenization hypotheses can be tested under conditions of unequal sampling effort, we suggest robust methods such as PERMANOVA and the Raup-Crick dissimilarity index. A framework for selecting appropriate methods is also discussed. As forests are increasingly being altered by anthropogenic drivers, future studies using disparate data sources must account for differences in measurements and sampling protocols in order to produce results that are both statistically defensible and useful for science-based management.

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Urban Ecology and Climate Change

Singh

Verma

Singh

et al. 2022

Urban Ecology and Global Climate Change

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Homogenization of plant diversity, composition, and structure in North American urban yards

Cited by 77 publications

References 68 publications

Contribution of non‐native plants to the phylogenetic homogenization of U.S. yard floras

Contribution of non‐native plants to the phylogenetic homogenization of U.S. yard floras

Assessing methods for comparing species diversity from disparate data sources: the case of urban and peri‐urban forests

Urban Ecology and Climate Change

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