Journal
NEW PHYTOLOGIST
Volume 215, Issue 4, Pages 1298-1305Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/nph.14656
Keywords
biodiversity; conservation biology; native plants; pollination; pollinator; restoration; urban ecology
Categories
Funding
- NSF [DEB1452386, DBI1523771]
- UPitt MSCI seed grant
- UPitt DSAS fellowship
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Urban centers are important foci for plant biodiversity and yet widespread planting of wildflower gardens in cities to sustain pollinator biodiversity is on the rise, without full consideration of potential ecological consequences. The impact of intentional wildflower plantings on remnant native plant diversity in urban and peri-urban settings has not received attention, although shared pollinators are likely to mediate several types of biotic interactions between human-introduced plants and remnant native ones. Additionally, if wildflower species escape gardens these indirect effects may be compounded with direct ones. We review the potential positive and negative impacts of wildflower gardens on urban native flowering plants, and we reveal substantial gaps in our knowledge. We present a roadmap for research to address whether wildflower gardens, while benefiting pollinators, could also hasten the extinction of native remnant plants in urban settings, or whether they could have other effects that enrich urban biodiversity. Goals of future wildflower mixes should consider the totality of potential interactions.
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