Composition patterns of ornamental flora in the Czech Republic

0521578 - BÚ 2020 RIV BG eng J - Journal Article
Petřík, Petr - Sádlo, Jiří - Hejda, Martin - Štajerová, Kateřina - Pyšek, Petr - Pergl, Jan
Composition patterns of ornamental flora in the Czech Republic.
Neobiota. Roč. 52, Nov 12 (2019), s. 87-109. ISSN 1619-0033. E-ISSN 1314-2488
R&D Projects: GA MK(CZ) DG16P02M041
Keywords : ornamental flora * classification * alien plants
OECD category: Ecology
Impact factor: 2.643, year: 2019
Method of publishing: Open access

Ornamental plants are an important component of urban floras and a significant source of alien plant invasions to the surrounding landscapes. We studied ornamental flora across 174 settlements in the Czech Republic, Central Europe. The inventories were classified in a similar manner that is generally applied to spontaneous vegetation using the COCKTAIL method. Diagnostic taxa were classified in a repeatable manner into 17 species groups, forming five dis¬tinctive clusters, based on the prevailing type of settlement: (1) old villas neighbourhoods of towns, (2) upland settlements, (3) modern neighbourhoods, (4) old rustic settlements and (5) modern rustic settle¬ments. Similar to spontaneous vegetation, the classification of ornamental flora reflects both basic natural gradients (i.e. altitude) and man-made factors (i.e. the preferences for certain plants and associated man¬agement practices). Alien taxa associated with modern neighbourhoods are characterised by a relatively higher invasion potential than those from, for example, old rustic settlements. This is especially true for woody species which can spread in ruderal habitats as a result of urban sprawl. Our results showed that the classification method, commonly used to analyse vegetation data, can also be applied to ornamental flora.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0306209