Urban Ecosyst (2006) 9: 39–43
DOI 10.1007/s11252-006-5528-1
Diversity of vascular plants growing on walls of a
Brazilian city
Valéria Aparecida dos Reis · Julio Antonio Lombardi ·
Rodolfo Antônio de Figueiredo
C
Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. 2006
Abstract City walls are very specialized environments, conditioned by human activities.
There is little information about plants that invade human-made habitats, and no study done
in Brazil with plants growing up on walls. The aim of the present study was to survey the
wall vascular flora of a Brazilian city, comparing the diversity found in its downtown and
neighborhoods. Fieldwork was done in Jundiaı́, São Paulo State, where data was collected in
downtown and in five neighborhoods. In each place, three transects of 1 km were established
and every plant individual was registered. Twenty-eight species were identified, all of them
on the downtown transect and most also on the neighborhood transects. Five species were
the most frequent, although none were dominant. The diversity indicies of the six transects
were not significantly different, with an overall diversity of H = 2.93.
Keywords City plants · Urban ecology · Plant invasion · Southeastern Brazil
Introduction
The flora of urban ecosystems is still poorly known in Brazil. Only the two larger urban forests
of Brazil were the focus of ecological vegetation studies (Machado, 1992; Morellato and
Leitão Filho, 1995; Matos et al., 2002). Only some studies dealing with specific ecological
aspects, such as the interactions of urban plants with butterflies (Ruszczyk, 1986), birds
V. A. dos Reis
Faculdade de Ciências e Letras Padre Anchieta, Jundiaı́ (SP), Brasil
J. A. Lombardi
Departamento de Botânica, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista,
Rio Claro (SP), Brasil
R. A. De Figueiredo ( )
Centro Universitário Central Paulista and Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de São
Carlos, São Carlos (SP), Brasil
e-mail: prof [email protected]
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Urban Ecosyst (2006) 9: 39–43
(Argel-de-Oliveira, 1995; Mizuta et al., 2001), and bats (Fabián et al., 1990; Sazima et al.,
1994) have been conducted in Brazilian cities.
Studies are less commonly done in specialized urban habitats, such as walls, although they
have captivated the attention of European researchers (e.g. Rishbeth, 1948; Oberdorfer, 1969;
Hruska, 1987; Pedrotti, 1988; Lisci, 1997). As a specialized microenvironment conditioned
by human beings, walls are colonized only by plant species with specific adaptations for
development and reproduction (Lisci and Pacini, 1993a, b).
The aim of the present study is, in face of the lack of knowledge on vascular plants growing
on walls of Brazilian cities, to survey the species found naturally growing in walls, and assess
their frequency, diversity and dominance.
Methods
Fieldwork was undertaken at the municipality of Jundiaı́ (23◦ 06 S, 46◦ 55 W), São Paulo
State, southeastern Brazil. There is a marked seasonality in the study area, with a dry, cold
season from April to September and a wet, warm season from October to March (Mello et al.,
1994). The average annual rainfall is 1385 mm and average annual solar period is 2480 hours
(data from 1941 to 1995, collected by Estação Experimental de Jundiaı́). Native vegetation
of the municipality is classified as semideciduous forest within the Atlantic Forest Domain
(for detailed descriptions see Morellato, 1992).
Five neighborhoods and the city downtown were chosen to collect data on vascular plants
spontaneously growing on the walls. In each area, three transects of 1 km each were randomly placed. Along each transect, the continuum of walls were carefully observed, and all
individual plants growing from the base of the wall until 1.5 m high were collected, as well
as their position in the substrate recorded. Frequency, density, richness, evenness, Simpson
dominance and Shannon diversity were calculated, following Magurran (1988). These parameters were used to compare the flora of the downtown and neighborhood walls, by using
the one-way analysis of variance test. Voucher specimens of the plants were deposited at the
BHCB Herbarium at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
Results and discussion
Twenty-eight plant species in 16 families were recorded (Table 1). All species were found
on downtown walls, and most of them also occurred on two or more of the neighborhood
transects (Table 1). In European cities, from 174 to 385 species, within up to 57 families,
were recorded by different studies (Anzalone, 1951; Lisci, 1997).
Although there are differences in the number of recorded species among places of the
city (downtown and neighborhoods), differences among their diversity indexes were not
significant (F = 0.24; P = 0.94). The overall diversity of wall plants in the southeastern
Brazilian town studied is H = 2.93 (Table 2).
As far as we know, only five studies have been published with spontaneous plants growing
in Brazilian cities (Figueiredo, 1991a,b,1997; Figueiredo and Motta-Junior, 1997; Figueiredo
et al., 1995). In all of them, the authors paid attention only to exotic trees. Figueiredo (1991b),
found strangler figs growing on walls of Campinas, a city near Jundiaı́.
Most of the species found in this study (93%) are weeds in agricultural ecosystems
(Lorenzi, 2000). Lisci (1997), in an Italian city, recorded Asteraceae as the richer family,
such as the present study, and also found that most species are ruderal and stress tolerant.
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Urban Ecosyst (2006) 9: 39–43
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Table 1 Families and species of the plants recorded in walls of a Brazilian city, their frequencies and
microhabitat preferences
Family
Species
Amaranthus oleraceus L.
Amaranthus viridis L.
ASTERACEAE
Bidens pilosa L.
Emilia forsbergii Nicolson
Galinsoga parviflora Cav.
Gnaphalium spathulatum Lam
Sonchus oleraceus L.
Youngia japonica (L.) DC
BEGONIACEAE
Begonia cucculata Willd
BRASSICACEAE
Lepidium pseudodidymum Thell
CARYOPHYLLACEAE Drymaria cordata (L.) Willd.
CYPERACEAE
Cyperus rotundus L.
EUPHORBIACEAE
Euphorbia brasiliensis Lam
Euphorbia pilulifera L.
Euphorbia prostrata Aiton
Phyllanthus corcovadensis Müll. Arg.
MALVACEAE
Sida rhombifolia L.
OXALIDACEAE
Oxalis corniculata L
POACEAE
Paspalum cf. plicatulum Michx.
Paspalum notatum Flüggé
Polygonum capitatum Buch. – Ham. ex D.
POLYGONACEAE
Don
PTERIDACEAE
Pteris vittata L.
RUBIACEAE
Oldenlandia sp.
Richardia cf. brasiliensis Gomes
SCROPHULARIACEAE Linaria sp.
Stemodia sp.
THELYPTERIDACEAE Thelypteris dentata (Forssk.) E. St. John
URTICACEAE
Pilea microphylla (L.) Liebm.
AMARANTHACEAE
NI RD (%) RF (%) Microhabitats
29
34
19
16
41
73
14
6
5
8
7
5
11
18
91
89
8
54
14
11
84
2.88
3.77
1.88
1.59
4.27
7.34
1.79
0.60
0.50
1.09
0.69
0.50
1.39
1.79
9.03
10.02
0.79
5.75
1.39
1.09
9.13
3.38
5.26
2.63
3.01
4.51
6.02
4.14
1.88
1.13
2.26
1.50
0.75
2.63
3.01
6.39
6.39
1.88
5.26
2.63
1.88
5.64
A
A
A
A
A
A
A, G
A, G
A, B, F
A
A
A
A
A
A
A, B, C, E, F
A
A
A
A, H
A, B, C, F, G
72
26
16
13
4
88
93
7.74
2.58
1.59
1.29
0.40
9.62
9.52
6.39
3.01
2.26
2.63
0.75
6.77
6.02
A, B, C, F, G
A
A
A, B, C
A
A, B, C, F, G
A, B, C, F, G
NI = number of individuals, RD = relative density, RF = relative frequency, and Microhabitats according
to Lisci and Pacini (1993a), i.e. A = cavities in soil, B = cavities in inclined surfaces, C = cavities in
surfaces between two types of materials, D = cavities in vertical face of homogenous materials, E = cavities
in horizontal surfaces, F = cavities in intersections of vertical and horizontal surfaces, G = cavities in
intersections of two vertical surfaces, and H = substrates accumulated in horizontal surfaces.
In Africa, where studies with urban spontaneous growing plants are also scarce, Cilliers
and Bredenkamp (1999) found dominant species in the sub-communities studied, differing
from our study. A study on the vegetation of the urban habitats in the Nile Delta region
suggested that urban vegetation is favored where disturbance, nutrient and water resources
are more abundant (Shaltout and El-Sheikh, 2002).
Lisci and Pacini (1993a) described the growing conditions of wall plants and the microhabitats created by the substrate inside cavities of the walls. In the present study, we found that
some species exhibited a preference to some microenvironments of the wall. Most species
grew better in cavities on the base of the wall, while few plants could colonize other parts
of the wall (Table 1). Lisci and Pacini (1993a) found that cavities at ground level are the
microhabitats with less environmental stress.
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Urban Ecosyst (2006) 9: 39–43
Table 2 Diversity indicies of plants recorded in city walls of southeastern Brazil.
Diversity Index
N1
N2
N3
N4
N5
Number of species
Richness
Number of individuals
Shannon diversity
Evenness
Simpson dominance
25
4.43
226
2.91
0.90
0.06
15
3.08
94
2.58
0.95
0.08
17
3.45
104
2.55
0.90
0.09
15
3.02
103
2.46
0.91
0.08
27
4.96
190
2.92
0.89
0.06
D
28
4.76
291
2.97
0.89
0.06
Total
28
3.90
1008
2.93
0.88
0.07
N = neighborhoods, and D = downtown.
Conclusions
The number and diversity of the vascular flora found in the present study is smaller than what
was found in European cities. This may reflect the fact that Brazilian cities are younger than
the European ones. Brazil was discovered by Portugal in 1500, while in Europe cities have
inhabited for millennia.
The flora found in walls may be an interest model for future studies dealing with ecology,
morphological, physiological, and reproductive aspects (Lisci and Pacini, 1993a, b; Rebele,
1994; Kent et al., 1999; Hermy and Cornelis, 2000), and also could be an easy source
of material to etnopharmacobotanical studies, since several of the recorded species have
medicinal uses in Brazil (Lorenzi and Matos, 2002).
Acknowledgments
The authors are indebted to Dr. Glenn Guntenspergen for providing valuable comments and
suggestions that improved an earlier version of the paper.
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