Land use history and seed dispersal drive divergent plant community assembly patterns in urban vacant lots

1. Despite high levels of disturbance and habitat modification, urban ecosystems still host substantial levels of biodiversity. The processes that maintain existing levels of diversity, however, remain understudied. Identifying the links between urban ecological processes and patterns has, therefore, become a fundamental research goal to support urban biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. 2. We conducted a study to determine how the diversity and composition of urban plant communities is affected by spatially and temporally variable land use legacies. We constructed a chronosequence of vacant lot properties covering a range of 3-22 years since demolition, in an urban neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland (USA). Surveys of herbaceous plant species abundance were conducted during the summers of 2012 and 2013 in sections of each vacant lot where the building previously stood (the ‘building footprint’) and sections of the lot that was previously a backyard or garden (the ‘remnant garden’). ...