The woody plant diversity and landscape pattern of fine-resolution urban forest along a distance gradient from points of interest in Qingdao

Abstract

Points of interest (POIs) are closely related to urbanization and human mobilities, and would consequently affect the spatial distribution of urban forest and its species diversity. However, the issue on what the relationships between POIs and urbanization, and how do POIs affect urban forest was rarely mentioned in previous studies. In our research, a total of 82,978 POI records (reclassed to 7 categories of catering and restaurants, commercial areas, educational and institutional areas, public services, residential areas, scenic spots and shopping areas) were collected to analyze their influence on woody plant diversity and urban forest landscape metrics according to a distance gradient using field measurements of diversity and imagery delineated urban forest patches. The results revealed that the urbanization intensity (computed as impervious surface area proportion) was linearly decreased with the increase of distance from POIs except for scenic spots. When it close to POIs, the woody plant species richness, Shannon-Wiener diversity and evenness gradually increased, whereas the Simpson’s diversity decreased. Meanwhile, the urban forest patches delineated from fine-resolution images got smaller, less shape complexity and fragmented with mean patch area (AREA_MN), area-weighted mean shape index (SHAPE_AM) and area-weighted mean contiguity index (CONTIG_AM) decreased and patch density (PD) increased. This study can improve our understanding on the diversity, distribution of urban forest and its relationship with human activities, and guide us in urban forest planning and management.

Keywords

• Tree species diversity
• Spatial distribution
• Landscape metrics
• Urbanization intensity
• Human activities