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URban Biotopes of Aotearoa New Zealand (URBANZ) (III) : Spontaneous Urban Wall Vegetation in Christchurch and Dunedin
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Neef, Diederik De Stewart, Glenn H. Meubk, Colin D. |
| Copyright Year | 2008 |
| Abstract | The vegetation of urban walls in New Zealand's cities has been little studied. We investigated the occurrence of wall vegetation in Christchurch and Dunedin cities, and determined whether vegetation patterns could be distinguished. This is a contribution to the ecological knowledge base that enables the development of management tools aimed at preserving and enhancing New Zealand urban biodiversity. Walls were randomly selected with the only requirement that vegetation was present. In addition to plant species presence and abundance at different wall heights, wall characteristics including substrate type, aspect, orientation, and colour were also recorded. Due to high species diversity and low abundance, data analysis was generally carried out at the taxonomic level of orders. The majority of species on urban walls were non-native; 85.5% (100 of 117) and 91.4% (64 of 70) of species in Christchurch and Dunedin respectively. Species diversity is high, but repeat occurrences low; 76.5% and 50% of the species occur in less then 5% of the samples for Christchurch and Dunedin respectively. In both cities the orders Asterales, Brassicales, Caryophyllales. and Poales were predominant. High incidence of species in the crack between base of wall and pavement indicated more favourable conditions or enhanced accessibility compared to other parts of the wall habitat. Lichens, and to some extent bryophytes, seemed to prefer the higher areas of the wall; lichens on rock surfaces but bryophytes preferring the joints. In Christchurch, lichens were rare in the urban-industrial centre of the city. Overall the observed wall vegetation is relatively similar between the two cities. |
| Starting Page | 133 |
| Ending Page | 154 |
| Page Count | 22 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Volume Number | 48 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/PHY_48_1_0133-0154.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
