Extirpated species in Berlin, dates of last detections, habitats, and number of Berlin’s inhabitants

Species loss is highly scale-dependent, following the species-area
relationship. We analysed spatio-temporal patterns of species’ extirpation
on a multitaxonomic level using Berlin, the capital city of Germany.
Berlin is one of the largest cities in Europe and has experienced a strong
urbanisation trend since the late 19th century. We expected species’
extirpation to be exceptionally high due to the long history of
urbanisation. Analysing regional Red Lists of Threatened Plants, Animals,
and Fungi of Berlin (covering 9498 species), we found that 16 % of species
were extirpated, a rate 5.9 times higher than at the German scale, and
47.1 times higher than at the European scale. Species’ extirpation in
Berlin is comparable to that of another German city with a similarly broad
taxonomic coverage, but much higher than in regional areas with less human
impact. The documentation of species’ extirpation started in the 18th
century and is well documented for the 19th and 20th centuries. We found
an average annual extirpation of 3.6 species in the 19th century, 9.6
species in the 20th century, and the same number of extirpated species as
in the 19th century were documented in the 21th century, despite the much
shorter time period. Our results showed that species’ extirpation is
higher at small than on large spatial scales, and might be negatively
influenced by urbanisation, with different effects on different taxonomic
groups and habitats. Over time, we found that species’ extirpation is
highest during periods of high human alterations and is negatively
affected by the number of people living in the city. But, there is still a
lack of data to decouple the size of the area and the human impact of
urbanisation. However, cities might be suitable systems for studying
species’ extirpation processes due to their small scale and human impact.