About

Green infrastructure in cities plays a major role in mitigating the negative effects of climate change, as it lowers average temperatures and increases humidity. Other ecosystem services include water retention during heavy rainfall, reduction of erosion, sequestration of carbon and nutrients and promotion of biodiversity. Green infrastructure also promotes recreation for city dwellers. Important challenges in the design of such green spaces are resilience to extreme weather conditions, resistance to invasive alien species and a favorable cost-benefit ratio.

Since these ecological aspects have not yet been sufficiently taken into account in the design of urban vegetation, the aim of the project is to investigate the effects of natural and newly assembled plant communities on ecosystem services under different climatic conditions and in interaction with invasive alien species in urban green spaces.

The species communities are composed of different groups of native herbaceous species. The ecosystem services are recorded along a climate gradient in 20 urban landscapes in Bavaria as well as in experimental gardens and climate chambers after the introduction of invasive species commonly found in the region at varying temperatures and droughts.

The results of the project contribute to a better understanding and adapted management of urban landscapes under climate change, based on ecological theory of grassland resilience and invasion resistance.  Economic benefits of the results of the subproject are reduced costs of public urban vegetation and better adaptation of Bavarian municipalities to climate change.

Partner

Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences

University of Augsburg

University of Bayreuth

University of Würzburg (project page)

Publications

Rojas-Botero S, Teixeira LH, Kollmann J (2023) Low precipitation due to climate change consistently reduces multifunctionality of urban grasslands in mesocosms. – PLOS ONE 18, e0275044. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275044

Rojas-Botero S*, Dietzel S*, Kollmann J, Teixeira LH (2023) Towards a functional understanding of rehabilitated urban road verge grasslands: Effects of planting year, site conditions, and landscape factors. – Flora 309, 152417. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.flora.2023.152417

Rojas-Botero S, Teixeira LH, Prucker P, Kloska V, Kollmann J, Le Stradic S (2023) Root traits of grasslands rapidly respond to climate change, while community biomass mainly depends on functional composition. – Functional Ecology 37, 1841-1855. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14345