Flora and Vegetation in Cities: Basic and Applied Scientific Knowledge for Environmental Sustainability

Dear Colleagues,

Urbanization has been increasing across the globe over recent years, and urban development and expansion have caused many adverse effects on biodiversity as well as on the ecosystem services it provides, especially where most of humanity currently lives. Urban biodiversity studies, which have increased steadily during the last 30 years, represent a crucial aspect for sustainable city planning all over the world.

Threats to urban biodiversity are related to biological invasions, landscape fragmentation, the reduction in natural vegetation cover, habitat loss, pollution, and other adverse effects due to the density of population, artificial areas, and infrastructure. Accordingly, basic knowledge on urban biodiversity and the definition of nature-based solutions to reduce the impact of human activities have become essential to bring nature back into cities and increase the health and well-being of billions of people.

This Special Issue is open to original research articles and reviews focused on the basic and applied knowledge of urban and suburban flora and vegetation. Contributions dealing with interactions between plants and other biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems are also welcome.

Dr. Giulia Capotorti
Dr. Duilio Iamonico
Guest Editors

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• anthropic disturbance
• databases
• flora
• land use
• restoration
• vegetation
• urban biodiversity conservation；

Title：New plants on the block: A comparison of neophyte flora in Banja Luka, Mostar, and Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Authors: Semir Maslo¹, Biljana Lubarda² and Nermina Sarajlić³

¹ Primary School, Lundåkerskolan, Södra Storgatan 45, 332 33 Gislaved, Sweden; [email protected]

² University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Department of biology, Mladena Stojanovića 2,78000 Banja Luka. Bosnia and Herzegovina ([email protected])

³Ornithological Society „Naše ptice“, Semira Frašte 6, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina ([email protected]) 

Abstract:This article provides a comparison of the neophytic flora of three cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Banja Luka, Mostar and Sarajevo. The goal of the research is to assess the role of neophytes in the flora of cities located in different phytoclimatic regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The results indicate a low similarity of the neophytic flora in the investigated cities. A total of 123 neophytes were recorded (50 taxa in Banja Luka, 90 in Mostar and 64 in Sarajevo), of which only 27 (21.95%) are common for all three cities.The invasive component includes 58 taxa (47.15%), of which 20 (34.48%) are common for all three cities. The invasive flora of Banja Luka includes 29 taxa (58% of the neophytic flora of the city), 50 taxa (55.55%) in Mostar and 34 taxa (53.12%) in Sarajevo. A total of 43 families were recorded, with Compositae being the richest (31 taxa), followed by Poaceae (9) and Amaranthaceae and Solanaceae (7 taxa each). The comparison of the biological spectrum reveals that therophytes are the most represented in all three cities:Banja Luka (27 taxa, 54%), Mostar (50 taxa, 55%), and Sarajevo (34 taxa, 53.12%). A study of the geographical origin shows the dominance of the taxa originating from Americas in all three cities (34 taxa, 68% in Banja Luka,62 taxa, 68.89% in Mostar and 39 taxa, 60.94% in Sarajevo).

Keywords: Banja Luka, Mostar, Neophytes, Sarajevo, urban flora.

Title: WHAT IS THE FUTURE FOR URBAN TREE COMMUNITIES DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE? MONITORING THE HEALTH STATUS OF QUERCUS CERRIS L., USING MORPHO-PHISYOLOGICAL LEAF TRAITS. A CHALLENGE FOR THE NBFC

Abstract: Quercus cerris L., is a target species for a study carried out by the University of Molise on the theme of the biodiversity monitoring of the urban forests - Spoke 5, Activity 2, Task 2.2. The main goal of this contribution is to present the current state of Urban Forests (UF) and Peri-Urban Forests (PUF) to compare with Natural Forests (NF) in Campobasso municipality (Molise region). The study involved monitoring in 2023 the dominant species, the Turkey oak, in 5 stands and in 3 periods (during the phenological season): May/June, July/August, September/October. The sampling protocol consists in: i) the ecological and coenological characterization of the sites through phytosociological surveys; ii) assessing the site's environmental conditions (soil pH, Photosynthetic Active Radiation-PAR, and substrate); iii) the collection of 10 leaves for 7 individuals of Q. cerris in each stand. The following features were measured for every leaf: i) Leaf traits: Specific Leaf Area (SLA), Leaf Dry Matter Content (LDMC), Leaf Thickness (LTH), Leaf Mass per Area (LMA); ii) Morphological traits: Fresh Weight (FW), Leaf Area (LA), Dry Weight (DW); iii) Physiological traits: Chlorophyll content (CHL), Anthocyanins Content (AC), Flavanols Content (FC), Leaf Area Index (LAI). In order to correlate a potential stress triggered by climate change and global warming during the sampling period, the data collected from 1.050 leaves of Q. cerris were correlated with climatic data (Precipitation, Temperature Surface Land – TSL, Heat waves, and Humidity).