Urban Spaces as a Phytogenetic Reserve

Abstract

Plants, plant communities and habitats are exposed to serious conservation threats in their natural environment. The negligent man’s action contributes to endangered the biodiversity in Mediterranean regions. It has been considered that urban spaces (green spaces) can help to mitigate these threats as they have good potential for implementation of phytogenetic reserves, due to the lowest incidence of threats in plants and communities, such as rural fires, invasive plants, intensive agriculture and the wild herbivory. As green spaces consume huge quantities of water, it is important to highlight the use of vegetation well adapted to Mediterranean climate and those areas could also be elected for raising awareness among citizens. So, in this document we attempt to explore the importance of green spaces as a way of mitigate the decrease of occurrence of some species. The analysis used for this study was based on bibliographic sources, as well as data collected by the authors of this article. It was also developed the concept of using native plants, with resources at local ecotypes, as a tool for adaptation and resilience to climate change, increasing the identity of the landscape and reducing green spaces maintenance costs. In this way, green spaces can be as sustainable as possible with a large seasonal change, depending on the diversity of species introduced in landscape design. They also allow to get positive profits on economy, environment and society at local level.