Spatiotemporal Variation of Urban Plant Diversity and above Ground Biomass in Haikou, China

Understanding the drivers of urban plant diversity (UPD) and above ground biomass (AGB) in urbanized areas is critical for urban ecosystem services and biodiversity protection. The relationships between UPD and AGB have been investigated simultaneously. However, the drivers of UPD and AGB have been explored independently in tropical coastal areas at different time points. To fill this gap, we conducted a remote sensing interpretation, field plant plot surveys, and compiled socioeconomic and urban greening management survey data. We conducted spatial analyses to investigate the relationships among UPD and socioeconomic variables across different primary and secondary urban functional units (UFUs) in the tropical urban ecosystems of the coastal city of Haikou, China. The primary UFUs with the highest AGB were the recreation and leisure districts in 2015 and 2021. In 2015, AGB was mainly correlated with the number of herb species in undeveloped land and the districts of industry, business, recreation, and leisure. In 2021, AGB was affected primarily by the frequency of fertilizing, maintenance, and watering. Our study found that the relationship between UPD and AGB varied across time and space in Haikou. The plant diversity and AGB’s response to human activities and socioeconomics appear to have a time-lag effect. These results provide new insights in understanding how management decisions affect urban vegetation and could be used to guide future urban green space planning in Haikou.