Impacts Of Tourism Activity And Intensity On The Eco-environment Of Unban Botanical Forest Park

Investigations on the impacts of tour type and activity intensity on soil properties, vegetation type, water quality and noise were conducted in Hunan Botanical Forest Park located in Changsha, Hunan, China. The park was classified into three areas in accordance with the tour type and activity intensity. The study included field investigation, sample collection, lab measurement and data analysis. The main results obtained from the study are summarized as follows:(1) Soil physical and chemical properties:Subject to the interference of tourism activity, soil bulk density increased, and both soil porosity and water content decreased with increase in tourism activity intensity. The type of tourism activity was found to be one of the important factors affecting the soil moisture content. Barbecue and bivouac activities had significant influences on soil pH. Soil organic matter and total nitrogen were negatively correlated with the intensity of the activity dynamic types. The impact of the type and the intensity of tourism activity on soil phosphorus and potassium contents were not significantly detected and that on soil fertility was not shown to be consistent.(2)Soil microorganism and animal:An adequate increase in the intensity of tourism activity had brought beneficial effects to the increase in the number of soil microorganisms. With further increase in tour intensity, however, both the species and the numbers of the soil animals were decreased. The impact of the type of tourism activity on soil microorganism and animal is a complex.(3) Vegetation status:The effect of tour trampling on soil physical and chemical properties led direct damage to vegetation status by affecting plant root growth and in turn changing their physiological and metabolic functions. With increase in the interference of tourism actives, both the plant population and biodiversity went down to lower levels. The height and coverage percentage of plant was negatively related to the intensity of tourism activity. The degree of the impact on vegetation is also related to the type of tourism activities.(4) Water environment:Restaurant and picnic activities had direct impacts on water quality in the park area, normally resulting in the degradation of the water environment. Tourist accommodation led to an increase in water total nitrogen and phosphorus contents, boating activities often enhanced the water turbidity while fishing activities resulted in the increase in COD. The influence of the tourism activity on water quality was much stronger in relatively closed water bodies, which, as observed, caused the increase in the content of nitrogen, phosphorus and chlorophyll a, and consequently accelerated the degree of eutrophication and degradation of the water eco-system.(5) Noise environment:The volume of the noise in the investigated park was found to be positively correlated with the intensity of the tourism activity. The openness of the activity sites is an important factor associated with the noise environment. Dynamic types of tour activity had stronger impact on the noise environment and thus the noise volume values were closely related to the period of tour activity, generally with an "M-type" change trend.The significances of this study are(1) Conducted analysis and discussion on the impact of tourism activity on bio-species and diversity of the soil, vegetation and water environment of the unban forest park.(2) Performed a systematic study on the relationship between the ecological environment factors and the type and intensity of tourism activities in the investigated unbar forest park.