Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Landscape and Urban Planning 84 (2008) 312–323 Pattern and divergence of tree communities in Taipei’s main urban green spaces C.Y. Jim ∗ , Wendy Y. Chen Department of Geography, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China Received 2 February 2007; received in revised form 7 August 2007; accepted 7 September 2007 Available online 24 October 2007 Abstract Urban vegetation increasingly contributes to nature conservation and ecosystem services, but lacking understanding of site variations has restricted such uses. This study analyzed the spatial pattern and differentiation of tree communities in three major green landscape types (urban parks, riverside parks and street verges) in Taipei city. In each landscape type, 10 representative tree communities were studied. Statistical tests for ecological communities were employed: Jaccard and Q species similarity indices, two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN), and new species fidelity, landscape fidelity and composite Q indices. Significant recent increase in Taipei’s green spaces was traced. The study area contained 164 tree species, but few were shared by the three landscape types and none by 30 communities. Native evergreen broadleaf species with large final dimensions were dominant. Urban parks registered the highest species richness, landscape fidelity, rare species and urban endemics. Such exclusive species constitution deviated notably from riverside parks and street verges, with relatively simple and converging intra-site species ingredients. Pronounced species differentiation between urban parks reflected diversified site topography, natural woodland inheritance, woodland creation, and past landscape fashion. TWINSPAN classified the communities into nine groups each with signature characteristics. Inherent site variations offered main determinants of tree heterogeneity, superimposed by human modification to satisfy pre-determined site functions. A hybrid urban park with high species diversity and nature contents is advocated by amalgamating conventional but polarized designs of country and urban parks. The findings could inform management of urban forest, urban nature conservation, and ecological services of urban green spaces. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Hybrid park; Precision urban forestry; Urban ecology; Urban flora; Urban green space; Urban nature conservation 1. Introduction The benefits and services of vegetation in urbanized areas have been increasingly recognized, leading to widespread enhancement of efforts in protection and provision. With con- tinuous expansion of urban population and urbanized lands, such key environmental and ecological functions offer impor- tant bearing on the quality of life for a large proportion of humanity. Intensive anthropogenic disturbances in urban areas, such as habitat modification and loss, introduction of alien species, and in general the suppression or alteration of nature, have extensively changed the composition and quality of urban ecosystems (Zerbe et al., 2003; Li et al., 2006). Different natural elements over millennia of urban development have been well integrated into urban settlements. The widespread ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +852 2859 7020; fax: +852 2559 8994. E-mail address: hragjcy@hkucc.hku.hk (C.Y. Jim). changes reflect interactions between human activities and natu- ral conditions (Sukopp and Werner, 1983; Kowarik, 1991). Such synanthropization process could bring distinctive spatial pat- terns and species composition of urban vegetation communities (Cilliers and Bredenkamp, 2000), with consequential effects on urban ecosystem operations (Grimm et al., 2000). The predominant human factor plays a key role in the composition and performance of urban vegetation communi- ties (Shaltout and El-Sheikh, 2002). Although urbanization has notable effect on biotic homogenization (McKinney, 2006), many developed areas permit existence of diverse micro-habitats (Gilbert, 1989). They offer a heterogeneous mix of remnant nat- ural, modified natural, semi-natural, emulated natural or entirely created habitats. They represent different points with different opportunities and limitations for plant lives in the hemeroby scale (Kowarik, 1990). In the natural-to-artificial landscape spectrum, each landscape type offers unique niches to accom- modate an organism assemblage. In total over the whole city scope, the varied habitats could nurture a wide variety of veg- 0169-2046/$ – see front matter © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2007.09.001