eprintid: 10110095 rev_number: 14 eprint_status: archive userid: 608 dir: disk0/10/11/00/95 datestamp: 2020-09-17 13:52:26 lastmod: 2021-10-08 21:58:11 status_changed: 2020-09-17 13:52:26 type: article metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Llewellyn, T creators_name: Gaya, E creators_name: Murrell, DJ title: Are Urban Communities in Successional Stasis? A Case Study on Epiphytic Lichen Communities ispublished: pub divisions: UCL divisions: B02 divisions: C08 divisions: D09 divisions: F99 keywords: bioindicators; community ecology; empty niches; epiphytes; fungal diversity; pollution; species co-occurrence; urban ecosystems; lichenized fungi note: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. abstract: Urban areas may contain a wide range of potential habitats and environmental gradients and, given the many benefits to human health and well-being, there is a growing interest in maximizing their biodiversity potential. However, the ecological patterns and processes in urban areas are poorly understood. Using a widely applicable ecological survey method, we sampled epiphytic lichen communities, important bioindicators of atmospheric pollution, on host Quercus trees in urban parks of London, UK, to test if common patterns relating to lichen diversity are mirrored in urban green spaces. We found lichen diversity to be dependent on host species identity, and negatively related to local tree crowding. In addition, we found a strong negative effect of tree size on lichen diversity, leaving large trees as unexploited niches. A novel network analysis revealed the presence of only pioneer communities, showing the lichen communities are being held in successional stasis, likely due to the heritage effects of SO2 emissions and current nitrogen pollution and particulate emissions. Our study highlights that jointly assessing species richness, community structure and the successional stage can be key to understanding diversity patterns in urban ecosystems. Subsequently, this may help best determine the optimum conditions that will facilitate biodiversity increase within cities. date: 2020-09-01 date_type: published publisher: MDPI AG official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/d12090330 oa_status: green full_text_type: pub language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 1812980 doi: 10.3390/d12090330 lyricists_name: Murrell, David lyricists_id: DJMUR72 actors_name: Kalinowski, Damian actors_id: DKALI47 actors_role: owner full_text_status: public publication: Diversity volume: 12 number: 9 article_number: 330 issn: 1424-2818 citation: Llewellyn, T; Gaya, E; Murrell, DJ; (2020) Are Urban Communities in Successional Stasis? A Case Study on Epiphytic Lichen Communities. Diversity , 12 (9) , Article 330. 10.3390/d12090330 <https://doi.org/10.3390/d12090330>. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10110095/1/Murrel_Are%20Urban%20Communities%20in%20Successional%20Stasis%3F%20A%20Case%20Study%20on%20Epiphytic%20Lichen%20Communities_VoR.pdf