Social‐ecological signatures in plant species composition across Swiss cities and urban green space types

Societal Impact Statement Cities can harbor greater plant diversity than other ecosystems, yet how city sociocultural factors may determine differences in plant composition across equivalent urban green space types remains understudied. Here, we compare plant communities in five main urban greenspace types across three Swiss cities representing the country's French (Geneva), Italian (Lugano), and German (Zurich) cultural regions. We found that over half of the species recorded occurred in only one of the three cities, whereas less than a quarter were shared across all three. Our study supports the idea that cities' sociocultural contexts can leave a strong imprint on their urban plant life, underscoring the need to consider sociocultural diversity alongside ecological and planning factors when managing and promoting urban biodiversity.