Spontaneous Native Urban Plants in Subtropical Jupiter, Florida

The present study based in Jupiter, Florida, was a near-first look at urban native plant ecology in southern Florida. There were three objectives: 1. produce a ranked tally of native species in the urbanized environment; 2. assess the prevalence of high-occupancy niche-indifferent vs. niche-selective species; and 3. identify traits associated with local urban occupancy and examine their relationship with site occupancy. Forty-five urban sites divided among nine ecologically diverse keyword-types were sampled with species presence or absence recorded. Results were reported as a ranked species list by total site occupancy and as individual site-type occupancies as well as species possession of three featured traits. Four species emerged in high total occupancies and site-type occupancies (Phyla nodiflora (L.) Greene, Sida ulmifolia Mill., Paspalum setaceum Michx., and Eustachys petraea (Sw.) Desv.). The urban flora featured high-occupancy site-indifferent species, although site-type specialization was apparent too. Three traits were significantly associated with high urban site occupancy vs. wild background: facultative prostrate growth (70%/33%), rooted spreading (57%/22%), and reproductive assurance (61%/24%). Species having two or three of the featured traits tended toward higher site occupancy (p < 0.0001) than those with zero or one trait did. The project overall thus targeted a new area and found site occupancy to be largely broad but mixed with selectivity and to be linked to three traits, especially in combination.