In order to complete the equality we need to find how many square meters are there in 1 square kilometer
[tex]\begin{gathered} 1km^2=(1000m)(1000m) \\ 1km^2=1\cdot10^6m^2 \end{gathered}[/tex]then we need to use the conversion factors to change the units
[tex]1730\frac{\text{plants}}{km^2}\cdot\frac{1km^2}{1\cdot10^6m^2}=\frac{0.00173plants}{m^2}[/tex]