About This Project

JP/EN/CN

Urban plant diversity can be significantly influenced by socio-economic factors. Based on the "luxury effect", we hypothesize that wealthier Kyoto neighborhoods have higher biodiversity. In this project, I will identify all woody plant in 200 plots in Kyoto to produce a report of the plant diversity. I will also analyze the impacts of socio-economic factors on urban plant diversity to understand if there is a positive correlation between wealthier neighborhoods and plant diversity.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Cities are the fastest expanding habitat in the world, which significantly changed the plant diversity around the world. Being dominated by human beings, socio-economic factors influence plant diversity considerably. One aspect is the so-called "luxury effect" that wealthier neighborhoods have higher biodiversity. The reason for that includes that wealthier people can afford more expensive decorative plants, or wealthier people choose to live in the areas with higher biodiversity where the land prices are usually higher.

Although the research on this topic has increased considerably over the decades, our knowledge on the mechanism of urban biodiversity is limited, especially in Asian cities.

What is the significance of this project?

Taking Kyoto as a case study, the program can contribute to closing the research gap that fewer studies on the mechanism behind urban plant diversity have been conducted for Asian cities than that for American and European cities. Moreover, many previous researches only considered species richness. In this study, a more detailed investigation is conducted, in which other than number of species, other plant data (like height, diameter) is also documented that functional diversity can be analyzed.

Secondly, from the perspective of conservation, this study can provide useful advice for urban ecology management to achieve the global biodiversity conservation, improve human wellbeing, and reduce environmental inequalities.

What are the goals of the project?

To depict the urban plant diversity, 200 400-square-meter plots are established using a stratified sampling method based on different land use. In each plot, we document the plant data (like species name, height, diameter, canopy) and plot data (like permeable surface, socio-economic status). And clustering analysis will be applied to see if the plant diversity is similar to one another within the same attribute like land use.

Then the impacts of socio-economic status on urban plant diversity will be further analyzed using a multi-regression model, to exam if the wealthier neighborhoods in a city have higher biodiversity.

The outcome of the study is intended to be a plant map of Kyoto city, a research article, and a report for decision makers.