Eco-vegetation construction of the community gardens in USand its enlightenment to China
美国市民农园生态植被景观营建及其启示

Community garden is an popular building-agricultural mode in urban areas that fulfills several functions including healthy food production, social well being and ecological services. This paper investigated ecosystem services of community gardens focusing mainly on plant compositions and sources, community garden contribution to socio-cultural diversity and perceived community garden values in urban ecosystems. A field survey was conducted in a total of 14 community gardens in Los Angeles which selection was based on garden type and racial patterns of the communities. A total of 439 species (belonging to 242 geneses and 90 families) were enlisted in the 14 selected community gardens. The studies suggested that community gardens reflected the potential of urban biodiversity and was a necessary preservation mode of local plant species. Food plants were the dominant functional plant type, which along with ornamental and medicinal plants were representative of community garden structures. The vegetation structure reflected cultural changes such as trans-migrant cultures and local knowledge. Furthermore, both plant species diversity and vegetation structure were related with community garden type and racial patterns. The study showed that community garden was a critical urban biodiversity management strategy and multi-faceted culture conservation. It was a smart model (un)consciously initiated by city dwellers that now fulfils multi-functional services such as scenic vegetation landscape and agro-tourism. The findings of this study constituted a vital reference for planning and constructing community vegetation gardens based on different interest groups, especially the habitudes and interests of new incomers in China. At the same time, it was critical to thoroughly inspect all alien plant species for use in community gardens. The study also shed significant light on the construction of urban vegetation directed towards enhanced ecosystem services and human well-being.