Abstract:

Aims Urban parks are very rich in biodiversity and play an important role in conservation. Bryophytes are an important component of this biodiversity, but due to their small size and the challenges associated with their identification, they tend to be overlooked. Research on these nonvascular plants is therefore comparatively lacking. We aim to strengthen the comprehensive understanding of urban biodiversity by including robust information on bryophytes and promote urban conservation.

Methods Based on the literature data and ecological survey data, we integrated the list of bryophytes from 35 sample points in central urban areas and suburb areas of Shanghai. We applied cluster analysis to group the parks and compared the similarity of bryophytes in urban and suburban areas. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) and hierarchical partitioning methods were used to quantitatively study the relationship between environmental factors and the distribution of bryophyte species diversity.

Results The results showed that 164 species of bryophytes belonging to 74 genera in 34 families lived in 35 parks. This grouping included 9 species belonging to 8 genera in 7 families of liverworts and 155 species belonging to 66 genera in 27 families of mosses. Twelve of these species are endemic to China and four species are considered Near Threatened. According to the results of cluster analysis, these 35 parks can be divided into two groups, distinguished by population density, distance to the city center, distance to the primary highway, and park area. The Jaccard similarity coefficients of families, genera and species in urban and suburban areas were 0.94, 0.89, and 0.30, respectively, indicating that the species composition of the two areas had their own characteristics. The hierarchical partitioning method showed that the environmental factors that explained the distribution pattern of bryophyte diversity in urban parks were, from high to low, DOP (population density), AGI (age of the park), DIS2 (distance to the city center), DIS1 (distance to the primary highway), LPT (proportion of lake area to park area), FPT (proportion of forest area to park area), and AREA (park area).

Conclusion On the whole, the species diversity of bryophytes in Shanghai’s urban parks is rich and there are some differences in the species composition between urban parks and suburban parks. Both regions play an important role in the conservation of bryophyte diversity. We revealed the effects of different environmental factors such as DOP, DIS1 and FPT on the distribution pattern of bryophyte diversity in urban parks, in order to strengthen the comprehensive understanding of urban bryophyte diversity and promote the protection of urban ecosystems and bryophyte diversity.

Key words: bryophytes, biodiversity, urban park, cluster analysis, canonical correspondence analysis