Contributions of native plants to the urban ecosystem: Bursa (Turkey) sample

Abstract

In the coming years, it is a potential danger that the ecosystems existing in urban areas will be heavily affected, especially under the pressure of climate change. In the face of this danger, a good understanding of the natural landscape in urban areas and the adoption of local species are of great importance for sustainability. Native plants contribute to the life of their communities by quickly adapting to the environmental conditions in their areas. In this study, the contributions of 72 native woody taxa to the ecosystem were investigated in Bursa (Turkey), which has a rich flora. The relationships that emerged in terms of the criteria examined revealed essential results. The existence of some relationships between the criteria found in the study, like "significant positive correlation was determined at the 5% level between bee attraction and erosion prevention or negative correlation at the 5% level with bee attraction and water demand", shows that the use of native plants is vital for the protection of the ecosystem in urban areas. The primary purpose is to examine the ecological needs of native plants and their contribution to urban ecology to determine whether the existing correlation relationships are meaningful. It is aimed to associate natural areas in cities with the ecological needs of plants.