Native plants for urban garden, an alternative to increase biodiversity in the Capital District

Abstract

The green spaces of the gardens allow the creation of an urban landscape, mitigating the negative impacts of buildings in the city, generating the functional connectivity, reduce heat islands and can be a strategy to conserve native fauna and flora. Some of the exotic species iused in landscaping have a strong capacity for colonization, have displaced native species, causing significant encroachment problems in natural habitats. This condition makes it a priority to find native plants for urban gardening, in line with the environmental needs of Bogotá. The objetives of the study was to establish criteria for selecting the native species for urban gardening and to define a group of native plants with this potential. A preliminary classification of the species in the ecosystems of the City was made, taking into account the following features of life history (RHV) way of life and growth, height, type of propagation characteristics of the form, size and number of flowers and / or inflorescence size and fruit color, texture, shape and size of foliage. The data enabled a preliminary list of native plant species with potential for ground support or padding inside a decorative design ecological garden. This information is the basis for studies of propagation and germination, in order to replace the exotic species used in gardens and parks of Bogota.