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

Juscidalva Rodrigues de Almeida, Reginaldo de Oliveira Nunes and Teresa Dias
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Juscidalva Rodrigues de Almeida: Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c), Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
Reginaldo de Oliveira Nunes: Department of Human and Social Sciences, Federal University of Rondônia Foundation, Ji-Paraná 76906-656, RO, Brazil
Teresa Dias: Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c), Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 23, 1-19

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: green corridor function(s); functional diversity; human wellbeing; relative abundance; species richness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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