Understanding the drivers of woody plant diversity in urban parks in a snow climate city of China

Abstract

Urban parks are an important part of urban ecosystems and play an important role in biodiversity conservation. However, it is still unclear how park characteristics affect plant diversity which could hinder the conservation of urban biodiversity due to the ineffective design of urban parks. The diversity of woody plants in 33 parks of Changchun, China, was measured with plot measurements and linked with urban park characteristics (e.g., size and age of the park) to uncover the relationship between them. The results show that urban woody plant species were abundant, with 98 species belonging to 51 genera and 26 families in the snow climate city of Changchun. The variation in woody plant diversity was largely explained by internal patch characteristics (e.g., size, age, shape), and external factors surrounding the park (e.g., land use type and socioeconomic level) accounted for only 16.0% in our study. For internal patch characteristics, older urban parks with larger areas demonstrated a richer level of plant diversity and increased nonlinearly with increasing park area. The threshold size significantly affecting plant diversity variation was approximately 30 ha. Plant diversity had positive linear relationships with the ages of urban parks, supporting the legacy effect. In addition, woody plant diversity nonlinearly decreased with increasing park shape index, which suggested that the plant diversity could also be increased by optimizing the park shape. Regarding the external factors surrounding parks, the spatial distribution of woody plant diversity varied greatly from the urban center to the suburbs. House prices around the park had positive linear relationships with woody plant diversity in parks, supporting the luxury effect. However, building and road proportions, and green space proportion had no relationship with plant diversity in parks. This study can provide a robust reference for enriching plant diversity in urban parks, thus improving the development of urban sustainable cities.

Uniqueness evaluation indicators for woody plant communities in urban park green spaces based on importance value: a case study in Qingdao city

“…These ndings suggest that there is no direct connection between the uniqueness and diversity of woody plant communities. Previous research has revealed a signi cant positive or negative correlation between the size and age of parks or green spaces and the species richness of woody plants (Ma et al 2023;Figueroa et al 2018;Ortí et al 2022). Our results indicate that there is no signi cant correlation between the uniqueness indicator (MNIV or LCBD1) and the age and area of parks, aligning with the aforementioned conclusions.…”

“…similar longitudes but different latitudes. Woody plants in urban parks in Changchun showed the highest richness of 22 species and a maximum Shannon-Wiener index of 2.7(Ma et al 2023), which is lower than the diversity level of Qingdao hill parks in this study. The average Shannon-Wiener index for woody plants in Beijing urban parks is 3.03(Li et al 2020b), which is similar to our ndings for Qingdao hill parks.…”

Evaluation of the diversity and uniqueness of woody plant communities in park forests transformed form forest patches on urban hills

“…This indicates that the diversities of woody plant communities in Qingdao hill parks are at a high level among urban parks at the same latitude. Woody plants in urban parks in Changchun showed the highest richness of 22 species and a maximum Shannon-Wiener index of 2.7(Ma et al 2023), which is lower than the diversity level of Qingdao hill parks in this study. In Fuzhou, the species number of woody plants in individual parks in mountainous and riverside parks ranges from 32 to 61 (Lan et al 2021), which is higher than our ndings for Qingdao hill parks.…”

Assessment of the level of pollution based on soil andTilia × europaealeaves

“…The effects of urbanization on environmental pollution are different in countries and regions with various degrees of development (Son and Hu 2018). Earlier studies reported that urbanization directly and indirectly affects soil as an essential resource; accumulation of heavy metals can modify the quality of soil and agricultural products, and thus, they have adverse effects on humans, animals, and the ecosystem health (Nagajyoti et al 2010, Ihenetu et al 2024 Trees play an essential role in urban vegetated areas (Ma et al 2022, Wang and. Plant leaves can accumulate air pollutants in high concentrations; air pollutant particles can also be deposited in the leaves of plants due to their stomatal openings and waxy cuticles (Bibi et al 2023, Molnár et al 2020, Simon et al 2021.…”

“…Trees play an essential role in urban vegetated areas (Ma et al 2022, Wang and Zhang 2022). Plant leaves can accumulate air pollutants in high concentrations; air pollutant particles can also be deposited in the leaves of plants due to their stomatal openings and waxy cuticles (Bibi et al 2023, Molnár et al 2020, Simon et al 2021).…”