The Influence Of Urbanization On Patterns Of Plant Diversity In Jinzhong Basin

Plant species diversity and its spatial distribution pattern have been the focus of attention of ecologists.The plant species diversity must be influenced by.human activities in fast urbanization area.Urbanization of Jinzhong Basin is one of the fastest in Shanxi Province.Based on the speed of urbanization from fast to slow,86 villages,48 towns,and 9 cities in the county were selected,and sampling plots were set up for wild plants and cultivated plants surveys at each site.In this way,we can study the plant diversity and its spatial distribution pattern in different urbanization levels.The results as follow:(1)Statistical data on plant species in Jinzhong Basin shows that,the community is composed of 320 species,belonging to 47 families and 202 genera.In particular,investigations demonstrated that cities held 55 species of cultivated plants,attaching to 43 genera and 29 families,84 species of wild plants,belonging to 52 genera and 24 families;towns held cultivated plants 62 species,attaching to 43 genera and 31 families,133 species of wild plants,belonging to 82 genera of 30 families;villages possessed cultivated plants 70 species,belonging to 48 genera and 33 families,196 species of wild plants,which belong to 118 genera of 38 families in villages.In the Jinzhong Basin,the world distribution and pantropical distribution are dominant of vegetation areal types,occupying 90 percentage of the total families of wild plants;Comparing with wild plants,the distribution types of cultivated plants is more diverse.(2)The Gleason index,the Whittaker Beta index,and the Jaccard similarity index were employed to discover patterns in regional biodiversity,and independent-sample t-tests were used to compare the patterns of wild and cultivated plants.Along the village-town-city gradient,the species richness decreased for wild plants,but increased for cultivated plants.The total plant richness for this gradient showed a bell-shaped curve,and the ?-diversity index consistently decreased.The floral similarity was lower in villages compared to towns and cities,while it was also lower in towns compared to cities.(3)Spatial distribution of plant species diversity shows that the differential urbanization development and the anthropogenic disturbance in the Jinzhong Basin are the crucial factors in explaining the pattern of biodiversity differentiation in this region.In particular,the richness of wild plants is lower in cities compared to towns and villages,while the richness of the wild plants in the villages is the highest.Meanwhile,the richness of wild plant species in the towns or villages near the cites is also lower.On the contrary,the richness of cultivated plantsis higher in cities comparing with towns and villages,while the richness of the cultivated plants in the villages is the lowest.Meanwhile,the richness of cultivated plant species in towns or villages near cites is also higher.The richness of plants is lower in towns compared with cities and villages,while the richness of total plants in towns is the lowest.The results of this study could be useful for future development,as they can provide referential data to improve the rationality and effectiveness in protecting biological plant diversity.