Urban forest in Jinan City: Distribution, classification and ecological significance

Abstract

Urban forest mainly refers to urban green space and suburban forest. Urban forest is quite significant in reducing negative effects of civilization and preserving the ecological balance of city ecological system. This paper applied remote sensing method in the study of urban forest in Jinan City. Results show that there are various kinds of greenbelts in Jinan City, including public greenbelt, residential greenbelt, greenbelt attached to branches, protective greenbelt in production, landscape forest and road greenbelt. The urban greenbelt area is limited, the layout is irrational, and development of the scenery forest is slow. Using the remote sensing investigation, we divided the suburban forest into seven classes: protective forest, intercrop forest, economic forest, sparse forest, non-afforested forest, forest web and scenery forest. Current forestlands are scarce and asymmetrical, the layout is unreasonable, plant diseases and insects are serious, and the growth rate is slow. The existing forests are not effectively managed and the reforestation on desolate hills is difficult. Based on the research, suggestions to improve urban forest in Jinan City are given as follows: increasing the number of greenbelt corridors, creating sequential plane greenbelt, developing three-dimensional green space, carefully selecting and comparing the tree species, programming reasonably and overall distribution.