Biodiverse neighborhoods: an ex-situ conservation tool

Abstract

Urban forests are responsible for a lot of benefits, and can be used as a tool to ex-situ conservation of native species. Our study investigated a public urban forest aiming to provide subside to management projects in order to allow the accurate fulfillment ofsocial, aesthetic and ecological functions displayed by trees. Our survey was conducted in 6 public squares and 5 gardens in theJardins neighborhood. We classified the trees according to their phytogeographic origins and seed dispersal habit. The Shannon-Weaver (H’) index, Simpson’s dominance (D’) and Pielou’s equability (J) were determined. A total of 507 individuals were sampled,located in 12 botanical families and 29 species, and 13 of them were classified as native and 16 as exotic. The family with higherspecies richness and number of species was Fabaceae (36%). Regarding the seed dispersal syndrome, the most representativewas zoochory (52%). The ecological index showed medium species diversity (H’=2.2284), high dominance (D’=0.7899) andmedium number of individuals (J) 0.6552. Although the Jardins neighborhood was planned, the urban forest in this area still needsimprovement; such as incentive measures that can promote biodiversity and the application of ex-situ conservation