Presently 50% of the global population lives in cities which occupy only 3% of the land area andit is expected that the urban population will further rise to 67% in the next 50 years. In developing countries, about 44% of the population currently ...

Presently 50% of the global population lives in cities which occupy only 3% of the land area andit is expected that the urban population will further rise to 67% in the next 50 years. In developing countries, about 44% of the population currently lives in urban areas, which is likely to increase considerably in the next 20 to 30 years.During the last 50 years, the population of India has grown two and a half times. But the urban population has grown nearly five times. This kind of rapid urbanization is bringing complex changes to ecology, economy and society at local, regional and global scales.Conservation and restoration of urban green spaces comprising urban trees and otherplants are one important aspect of improving the environmental quality of the urban areas. Theterm ‘urban plants’ generally includes plants growing both within the built environment as wellas roadside avenues and public places in urban systems. They play a very significant role in theurban environment and serve many functions, such as climate change mitigation by carbonsequestration, air quality improvement by air pollution abatement, oxygen generation, noisereduction, mitigation of urban heat-island effects, microclimate regulation, and stabilization ofsoil, groundwater recharge, prevention of soil erosion, biodiversity conservation and source ofecosystem goods to urban inhabitants. They also have aesthetic, socio-religious and recreationalvalue in urban contexts.In spite of their eco-sociological importance, urban biodiversity has not received much scientific attention in any state of India. Therefore, in this book tree diversity of selected Coastal towns of Karnataka state is envisaged. The common name, Botanical name, Morphological characters and Uses of some of the important tree species is described in this book.