People Prefer Greener Corridors: Evidence from Linking the Patterns of Tree and Shrub Diversity and Users’ Preferences in Lisbon’s Green Corridors

Autor: Teresa Dias, Juscidalva Rodrigues de Almeida, Reginaldo de Oliveira Nunes
Přispěvatelé: Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Sustainability, Vol 13, Iss 13228, p 13228 (2021)
Sustainability; Volume 13; Issue 23; Pages: 13228
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
instacron:RCAAP
ISSN: 2071-1050
Popis: Despite its importance as a component of urban green spaces, as far as we are aware no study has focused on plant diversity in urban green corridors (GCs). Therefore, this study aimed at: (i) characterizing tree and shrub communities in Lisbon’s GCs and (ii) assessing whether GCs’ users value trees and shrubs. We counted Lisbon’s GCs users in the same places where we assessed the tree and shrub community. Along the nine GCs, we observed trees and shrubs belonging to 70 species, distributed across 35 families with most (≥50%) species and plants being trees, exotic, pollinated by insects, with fruit dispersion by animals, evergreen leaves, and producing dry fruits. Most GCs had a similar number of users (20–30 users h−1 survey−1) except for those of Central and Ribeirinho, which were more frequented (60 and 100 users h−1 survey−1, respectively). Most users (≥50%) were adults, walking accompanied, and performing leisure activities. Finally, the number of users was shown to be influenced by: (i) tree and shrub relative abundance, confirming that users preferred greener corridors; and (ii) function(s), showing that users preferred the most multifunctional GCs (i.e., GCs fulfilling ecological, cultural, and recreational functions). Our data suggest that Lisbon’s GCs favor more the inclusion of citizens than ecological functionality and resilience.
Databáze: OpenAIRE