The Richness and Cover of Alien Plants in the Undergrowth and Field Layer of Urbanized Southern Taiga Forests
Abstract
The aim of the work is to compare the richness (the number of species in 400 m2)and cover of alien plants in the undergrowth and field layer of a large city forest. The research was carried out in 2016–2017 in the southern taiga subzone of the Eurasian boreal zone, specifically in the urban forests of the industrial city of Ekaterinburg
(the Central Urals, Russia) and the area around it. 235 plots have been analyzed. The number and cover of alien species in the undergrowth and field layer are contrastively different. The richness and cover of alien herbaceous species are much less than the richness and cover of alien woody plants (shrubs and trees) in the undergrowth. Thus, the undergrowth layer has transformed much more comprehensively as a result of
alien plant invasions than the field layer. This conclusion is valid both for analysis on the scale of individual plots and for the analysis of complete species lists in urban and suburban forests. This statement is also true for the analysis of the cover of alien plants. This result appears to be unexpected.
Keywords: plant invasions, invasiveness of communities, urban forests, woody plants, herbaceous plants
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