Study On Plant Landscape Beauty Of Three Urban Parks In Guangzhou City

Rapid urbanization and economic growth have produced a series of constrains to urban areas where residents are eager to enjoy the achievements of economic reform and social development in China.It is believed that urban parks and green spaces can play an important role in improving the urban environment and providing people with a space consisting of sports,leisure and recreation.The aim of this thesis study is to make reasonable suggestions for optimizing the development of city parks through scenic beauty Estimation(SBE)of three typical forest parks in Guangzhou.Taking into account the geographic location and the representativeness of tourists,this study choose the following three forest parks as the research targets: Yuexiu Park,Huolu Mountain Forest Park and Huangshanlu Forest Park.On the basis of the investigation of the present situation and statistics of reconnaissance,this study applied the sampling division method for biological community to reduce all green spaces in Guangzhou to three spatial structures,i.e.dense forest space,semi-open forest space and open space.In order to avoid the disturbance of road systems,garden essays and buildings,the areas of 3 investigation plots each established for the three spatial structures are different: 20m×40m in dense forest space,20m×40m in semi-open forest space and 30m×30m in open space.Plant configuration patterns were analyzed and landscape plant disposition plans were drew by using autoCAD for the three spatial structures.Evaluation models were established to compare the degrees of landscape beauty of the typical city parks in Guangzhou with the employment of the analytic hierarchy process(AHP)and SBE method.The results obtained are summarized as follows.(1)Allocation proportion of the 3 types of spatial structure in each city park is different.Located in the central downtown area where the land availability is very limited,Yuexiu Park is rich in dense forest spaces with coverage of plants over 90%.Various forms of plant configuration are found and lots of ornamental tree species are used.Artificial pruning is given priority to in the tending and maintenance of plants.While in Huolu Mountain Forest Park and Huangshanlu Forest Park,large open spaces,monoculture of reforestation species such as Acacia species and trees planted for forest fire protection such as Schima superba are popular with extensive management.(2)In terms of species richness,there are 280 tree and shrub species and 170 herbal and grass species in Yuexiu Park,and 464 wild plant species belonging to 107 families and 284 genera are grown in Huolu and Huangshanlu Forest Parks.Aquilaria sinensis(Lour.)Gilg,which is listed in category II of the state protection trees,is found in Huangshanlu Forest Park.Regarding plant configuration,in Yuexiu Park palms are associated with Ficus microcarpa,Bombax malabaricum,Lagerstroemia indica,Loropetalum chinense var.rubrum,Pittosporum tobira,Jatropha integerrima,Ervatamia divaricate,Alocasia macrorrhiza.These associations had a compact configuration of rich tree-shrub-grass layers and result in high scores of scenic beauty.In Huolu Mountain Forest Park,Eucalyptus robusta planted with Bauhinia purpurea,Loropetalum chinense var.rubrum,Schefflera octophylla,Ravenala madagascariensis and Monstera deliciosa had high scores of scenic beauty.The geographical location and origin of Huolu Mountain Forest Park determined that tree species such as Michelia alba,Eucalyptus robusta,Schinma superba and Michelia macclurei are worth using in its reforestation projects.In Huangshanlu Forest Park,associations of Cunninghamia lanceolata+Machilus chinensis+Itea chinensis-Mallotus apelta and Blechnum orientale+ Rhizoma cibotii had high scores of scenic beauty and are worthy of promotion and application.(3)Results of evaluation by AHP method showed that Yuexiu Park obtained the highest score,followed by Huolu Mountain Forest Park;Huangshanlu Forest Park got the lowest score.Evaluation by SBE indicated that the order of scores of scenic beauty of the three parks is Yuexiu Park>Huangshanlu Forest Park>Huolu Mountain Forest Park.There are differences in the two methods of landscape evaluation using the plant species composition as the evaluation index.The results of landscape quality scores evaluated by AHP and SBE are consistent in terms of landscape types,the same order of forest space>semi-open space>open space was found.(4)The inconsistent results caused by the two landscape evaluation methods might be resulted from the differences in their emphasis of evaluation.AHP emphasizes the evaluation of landscape quality with more ecological principles employed,while SBE pays more attention to the evaluation of landscape beauty with more elements of aesthetics and arts involved.It is suggested that the two methods should be used where possible.