EVALUATION OF PLANTS BASED ON ECOLOGICAL TOLERANCE CRITERIA: A CASE STUDY OF URBAN OPEN GREEN SPACES IN RIZE, TURKIYE

In addition to aggressive urbanization, climate change and ecological challenges also have serious negative effects on urban green areas. Moreover, the selection of inappropriate plants in urban green space landscape projects increases the severity of these negatives. Therefore, inappropriate plant selection is considered a significant threat to the sustainability of urban green spaces. This situation highlights the importance of selecting plants with high ecological tolerance in urban park landscape projects. In this study, all tree, shrub, and ground cover plants identified in 11 urban parks and open green areas in Rize province were evaluated in terms of ecological tolerance criteria (air pollution, drought, wind, temperature, cold, and salinity). A total of 223 plant taxa were examined (77 native, 3 semi-native, 143 exotic), and it was determined that 149 taxa (49 native, 100 exotic) were sensitive to at least one of these criteria, while the remaining 74 taxa (27 native, 47 exotic) had sufficient tolerance to all ecological variables examined. Prunus serrulata Lindl. ‘Kanzan’ was identified as the taxon with the weakest ecological tolerance, and the resilience statuses of the other taxa were presented in the assessment table created. As a result, it was found that there are taxa used in Rize urban open green areas that pose risks against ecological factors, and recommendations were made for future landscape planting projects.