Urban Farm DB
Research catalogue
Database research record2022·Germany (Berlin)

Land sharing between cultivated and wild plants: urban gardens as hotspots for plant diversity in cities

Seitz B., Buchholz S., Kowarik I., Herrmann J., Neuerburg L., Wendler J., Winker L., Egerer M.

Urban Ecosystems, 25(3):927-939

Urban Farm DB summary

A survey of cultivated and spontaneously occurring wild plants in 18 community gardens across metropolitan Berlin, classifying each species as native or non-native. It found that gardens host many plant species — especially wild ones, including some endangered natives — regardless of surrounding urbanization, and that more cultivated species co-occur with more wild species (land sharing). The authors argue urban gardens can be sites of 'reconciliation ecology' that combine food production with conservation of native and wild flora.