In a rapidly urbanizing world, land managers are implementing restoration projects to restore ecosystem services and assist disturbed or damaged ecosystems towards resilience. To measure the success of ecological restoration projects, many have examined changes in species abundance, species diversity, ecosystem processes, and biotic interactions. More recently, changes in functional traits have been identified as indicators of restoration success. However, little is known about how functional composition and diversity are impacted by ecological restoration actions in urban ecosystems. The objective of this study was to understand whether ecological restoration drives changes in plant functional composition and functional diversity in urban forest patches. We hypothesized that ecological restoration will drive changes in functional composition and increase functional diversity. We sampled 30 sites dominated by invasive plants in New York City Park forest patches that underwent ecological restoration between 1988 and 1992, and 30 sites in NYC Park forest patches that did not have any ecological restoration performed. We calculated functional composition and diversity indices for 12 woody plant traits using functional richness, evenness, and divergence.
Results/Conclusions
Preliminary results suggest that ecological restoration in these urban forest patches drives differences in functional composition of woody plant species. These data suggest a significant difference in growth form composition between restored and unrestored canopy layers (p= 0.04248) and woody understory layers (p=0.0005). We will also discuss effects of ecological restoration on herbaceous plant functional diversity. As the world undergoes urbanization, it is important to understand how ecological restoration affects ecosystem function and processes in urban ecosystems. Functional traits provide a gateway into understanding these effects. This study provides an understanding of how ecological restoration affects the plant functional composition and diversity of urban forest patches that can help inform management of these important reservoirs of biodiversity in urban regions.