Photosynthetic Performance Across Urban Green Spaces Within a University Campus Ecosystem

Urban green spaces play a fundamental role in maintaining ecological stability, supporting biodiversity, regulating urban microclimates, and improving human wellbeing. Because photosynthetic activity is a key indicator of vegetation functionality and environmental adaptation, this study evaluated the photosynthetic performance of vegetation across eight urban green spaces within the campus of the University of Life Sciences “King Michael I” in Timișoara, Romania. Vegetation structure, spatial organization, and estimated photosynthetic rates of selected ornamental species were comparatively analyzed under the temperate climatic conditions of the study area. Two-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that the spatial characteristics of the investigated green spaces had a highly significant effect on photosynthetic variability (F(7, 42) = 6.783; p = 0.000021), explaining approximately 46% of the total variance, whereas species identity accounted for only 13.3% and showed no statistically significant influence (p = 0.052863). The highest photosynthetic performance was recorded in structurally diverse green spaces characterized by dense tree canopy and balanced woody–herbaceous vegetation, whereas the lowest values occurred in highly urbanized areas with limited vegetation cover. These findings demonstrate that the structural organization and vegetation composition of urban green spaces strongly influence photosynthetic performance and support the use of integrated ecological assessment as a decision-support tool for sustainable and climate-resilient urban green infrastructure planning.