Abstract: This paper focused on the ecological benefits of the near-natural forest in Pudong Shanghai, and contrasted it with the evergreen broad-leaf forests in Tiantong National Park and also with plant communities in urban areas. Several indices were selected in the investigation, including concentration of air anion, air temperature and humidity, air microorganisms and soil microorganisms. We got the following results. The air anion in near-natural forest were much higher than that in the contrast communities in urban areas, but much lower than that in the evergreen broad-leaf forests in Tiantong National Forest Park. The distribution of air bacteria, air fungus, and air actinomycete were definitely different. The average of air bacteria concentrations of urban near-natural forest was lower than contrast sample plots, but air fungi and actinomycete was higher. Near-natural forest was approaching natural forest better than contrast plant communities in urban area by its numbers of soil microorganisms.

Key words: ecological benefits, air negative ions, air microorganisms, soil microorganisms, near-natural forest, ecological benefits, air negative ions, air microorganisms, soil microorganisms