Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin, Germany.
Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Conserv Biol. 2024 Dec;38(6):e14322. doi: 10.1111/cobi.14322. Epub 2024 Jul 19.
Cemeteries are key urban green spaces with multifaceted societal and ecological importance. Their biodiversity is shaped by unique environmental and cultural factors. They can potentially protect rare and endangered species, yet their conservation value compared with other urban green spaces remains largely unexplored. We sought to fill this gap by systematically reviewing literature to investigate the conservation value of cemeteries relative to other urban green spaces (botanical gardens, institutional premises, natural remnants, and parks) by comparing species richness and proportions of native and unique species. We analyzed data from 70 papers covering 50 cities in 27 countries with linear and binomial mixed-effects models at both site and city level. Cemetery conservation value was similar to urban parks, except for the proportion of unique species, for which parks had significantly higher proportions (21.9% vs. 14.2%, p < 0.001). Cemeteries hosted slightly higher proportions of native species at the city level than botanical gardens (99.7% vs. 99.6%, p < 0.001) and institutional green spaces (96.3% vs. 94.1%, p = 0.034) and proportions comparable to parks and natural remnants (p > 0.05). They also had similar or higher values than institutional premises in species richness and unique species proportions (p > 0.05) and a higher site-level proportion of native species (p < 0.001). In contrast, species richness (slopes = -0.11 and -0.25, respectively) and unique species proportions (4.4% and 6.9%, respectively, p < 0.001 for both) were lower in cemeteries than in remnants of natural areas and in botanical gardens. The conservation value of cemeteries and parks was similar for animals, but parks had a higher value for plants. Overall, cemeteries were generally at least as valuable as some other green spaces for urban biodiversity and mostly native biota. Their religious and cultural significance suggests they will remain intact in the long term; thus, it is essential to prioritize and further promote their biodiversity in conservation and sustainable urban design plans.
公墓是具有多方面社会和生态重要性的城市关键绿地。它们的生物多样性受到独特的环境和文化因素的影响。公墓有可能保护珍稀濒危物种，但与其他城市绿地相比，其保护价值在很大程度上仍未得到探索。我们通过系统地回顾文献，调查公墓相对于其他城市绿地（植物园、机构场地、自然遗迹和公园）的保护价值，比较物种丰富度和本地及独特物种的比例，以填补这一空白。我们分析了来自 70 篇论文的数据，这些论文涵盖了 27 个国家的 50 个城市，在地点和城市层面上使用了线性和二项式混合效应模型。公墓的保护价值与城市公园相似，除了独特物种的比例，公园的比例明显更高（21.9%对 14.2%，p<0.001）。从城市层面来看，公墓的本地物种比例略高于植物园（99.7%对 99.6%，p<0.001）和机构绿地（96.3%对 94.1%，p=0.034），与公园和自然遗迹的比例相当（p>0.05）。它们在物种丰富度和独特物种比例方面的价值也与机构场地相似或更高（p>0.05），并且在本地物种的比例上也更高（p<0.001）。相比之下，公墓的物种丰富度（斜率分别为-0.11 和-0.25）和独特物种的比例（分别为 4.4%和 6.9%，p<0.001）都低于自然遗迹和植物园。公墓和公园对动物的保护价值相似，但对植物来说，公园的保护价值更高。总的来说，公墓对于城市生物多样性和大多数本地生物群来说，通常至少与其他一些绿地一样有价值。它们的宗教和文化意义表明，它们将在长期内保持完整；因此，在保护和可持续城市设计计划中，优先考虑并进一步促进它们的生物多样性至关重要。
