Plant traits, biotopes and urbanization dynamics explain the survival of endangered urban plant populations

1. With accelerating urbanization, the urban contribution to biodiversity conservation becomes increasingly important. Previous research shows that cities can host many endangered plant species. However, fundamental questions for urban nature conservation remain open: to what extent and where can endangered plant species persist in the long term and which mechanisms underlie population survival?

2. We evaluate the survival of 858 precisely monitored populations of 179 endangered plant species in Berlin, Germany, by assessing population survival throughout different urban ecosystems over a period of 7.6 years on average. By linking population survival to various landscape variables and plant traits, we unravel the underlying drivers.

3. More than one third of populations went extinct during the observation period. Population survival was inversely correlated to the increase of impervious surfaces in the vicinity following the first 11 years after the fall of the Berlin wall. Additi...