Abstract
Rapid urbanization has changed the structure and function of natural ecosystems, especially floodplain ecosystems in SE Asia. The ecological structure of vegetation stands and the usefulness of satellite images was investigated to characterize a disturbed tropical urban forest located in the Chao Phraya River lower floodplain, Thailand. Nine sample plots were established on the Bang Kachao Peninsula (BKP) within 4 tropical forest types in an urban area: rehabilitation forest, home-garden agroforestry, mangrove and park. The tree habitats were beach forest, swamp forest, moist evergreen forest, dry evergreen forest, mangrove forest and abandoned orchard or home-garden. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values obtained from Landsat 7 satellite images were correlated with plant structure from field surveys. NDVI had the highest relationship with stand factors for number of families, number of species, Shannon-Weiner index and total basal area. Linear regression predicted well the correlation between NDVI and stand factors for families and basal area. NDVI trends reflected urban tropical forest typing and biodiversity, being high in rehabilitation and mangrove forests, moderate in home-gardens and low in parks. We suggest that the application of NDVI for assessments can be useful for future planning, monitoring and management of the BKP and hence may contribute for increasing biodiversity and complexity of these urban forests.
Highlights
Urban forest refers to common vegetated land surfaces in an urban area that are managed, often transitionally, and that play a role in the functioning of ecosystem services [1]
The ecological structure and biodiversity of the tropical urban forests in Bang Kachao peninsula differed across the nine sample plots (Figure 3)
The dominant tree species differed with habitat, reflecting forest types along the Chao Phraya
Summary
Urban forest refers to common vegetated land surfaces in an urban area that are managed, often transitionally, and that play a role in the functioning of ecosystem services [1]. Urban forests provide multiple ecological, social and economic benefits through the provision of ecosystem services. Ecosystem services are defined as benefits that humans obtain from ecosystem functions, or as direct and indirect contributions from ecosystems to the well-being of humans [2,3]. Rapid urbanization has a significant negative impact on urban forests and the ecosystem services they provide [4]. The structure of urban forests is an important variable that influences urban ecosystem functions. Different habitats provide different types of ecosystem services; for example, agroecosystems are critical for food production, wetlands for nutrient capture and forests
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