Diversity and landscape application of plants in Yanqing greenbelt area

To evaluate the diversity of plant species and their landscape application in Yanqing greenbelt area, twelve plots in different types of urban greenbelts were investigated. The Margalefindex, Shannon-Wiener index and Pielou index were used to evaluate the richness of the species, the diversity of the species and the evenness of the species, respectively. The composition of plant species was also analyzed. A total of 167 species, which belong to 67 families including 117 genera, were recorded and the three major families are Salicaceae, Rosaceae and Compositae. The number of plant species and species richness was low, while the species diversity was high, which differed among different types of greenbelts. The species richness in the shrub layer was higher than that in the arbor and herb layers, but no significant difference was found for species diversity among the arbor, shrub and herb layers. The species evenness in the arbor layer was higher than that in the shrub and herb layers. From the aspect of landscape plant species, the ratio of arbors to shrubs was 1∶1.04, the ratio of evergreen to deciduous trees 1∶11.20, the percentage of coleus trees 6.24%. There were 82 species of flowering plants, which accounted for 49.10% of all species. Wild herbaceous flowers shared 89.23% of herb and ground cover species. Based on the same indices in Beijing greenbelts, suggestions are proposed to improve the landscape quality.