College of Horticulture and Forestry Sciences/Hubei Engineering Technology Research Center for Forestry Information, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
College of Horticulture and Forestry Sciences/Hubei Engineering Technology Research Center for Forestry Information, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2019 Feb 10;650(Pt 1):335-342. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.09.025. Epub 2018 Sep 5.
Urban biodiversity has increasingly been recognized by the scientific community and environmental policymakers as a part of conservation efforts worldwide. However, most studies on urban biodiversity focus on cities in developed countries. An information gap exists for urban biodiversity of cities in developing countries. Here we focused on variability in plant diversity, a major component of biodiversity, in a Chinese city that has undergone rapid urbanization in recent time. The influence of urbanization was determined by comparing plant diversity and proportion of exotic/endemic plant species with the intensity of urbanization across the study area. We used percentage of total impervious surface area (PTIA) as an indicator of urbanization intensity, ranging from 5% to 95% across the study area. In the study area, a total of 321 plant species was recorded, totaling 83 trees, 113 shrubs and 125 herbs. Plant diversity, measured by number of plant taxa and other indices, was driven by PTIA; an increase in PTIA reduced plant diversity. In addition, the ratio of exotic to endemic plant species increased as PTIA increased. Among the exotic species, most of the tree and shrub species were purposely introduced. Above 40% PTIA, plant diversity decreased sharply and the proportion of exotic species rose. As a valuable predictor of urban biodiversity, PTIA can thus be used as a key criterion for urban planning to ameliorate urban biodiversity. Further, our findings extend current understanding of urban biodiversity for cities in developing countries.
城市生物多样性已逐渐被科学界和环境政策制定者认可为全球保护努力的一部分。然而，大多数关于城市生物多样性的研究都集中在发达国家的城市。对于发展中国家城市的城市生物多样性，存在信息差距。在这里，我们主要关注的是一个最近经历了快速城市化的中国城市中植物多样性的变化，植物多样性是生物多样性的主要组成部分。通过比较整个研究区域内植物多样性和外来/特有植物物种的比例与城市化强度，确定了城市化的影响。我们使用总不透水表面面积百分比（PTIA）作为城市化强度的指标，范围从研究区域的 5%到 95%。在研究区域内，共记录了 321 种植物，其中 83 种为树木，113 种为灌木，125 种为草本植物。植物多样性，通过植物分类群的数量和其他指数来衡量，受 PTIA 驱动；PTIA 的增加降低了植物多样性。此外，随着 PTIA 的增加，外来植物与特有植物物种的比例增加。在外来物种中，大多数树木和灌木物种都是有意引入的。PTIA 超过 40%时，植物多样性急剧下降，外来物种的比例上升。作为城市生物多样性的一个有价值的预测指标，PTIA 因此可以作为城市规划的关键标准，以改善城市生物多样性。此外，我们的发现扩展了对发展中国家城市的城市生物多样性的现有理解。
