Scenic Beauty Evaluation of Forests with Autumn-Colored Leaves from Aerial and Ground Perspectives: A Case Study in Qixia Mountain in Nanjing, China
In recent years, on-site visitation has been strictly restricted in many scenic areas due to the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Cloud tourism”, also called online travel, uses high-resolution photographs taken by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as the dominant data source and has attracted...
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MDPI AG
2023-03-01
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Series: | Forests |
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Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/14/3/542 |
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author | Ce Yang Ming-Yang Li Tao Li Fang Ren Deng-Pan Li Liu-An Chen |
author_facet | Ce Yang Ming-Yang Li Tao Li Fang Ren Deng-Pan Li Liu-An Chen |
author_sort | Ce Yang |
collection | DOAJ |
description | In recent years, on-site visitation has been strictly restricted in many scenic areas due to the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Cloud tourism”, also called online travel, uses high-resolution photographs taken by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as the dominant data source and has attracted much attention. Due to the differences between ground and aerial observation perspectives, the landscape elements that affect the beauty of colored-leaved forests are quite different. In this paper, Qixia National Forest Park in Nanjing, China, was chosen as the case study area, and the best viewpoints were selected by combining tourists’ preferred viewing routes with a field survey, followed by a scenic beauty evaluation (SBE) of the forests with autumn-colored leaves in 2021 from the aerial and ground perspectives. The results show that (1) the best viewpoints can be obtained through the spatial overlay of five landscape factors: elevation, surface runoff, slope, aspect, and distance from the road; (2) the dominant factors influencing the beauty of colored-leaved forests from the aerial perspective are terrain changes, forest coverage, landscape composition, landscape contrast, the condition of the human landscape, and recreation frequency; and (3) the beauty of the ground perspective of the colored-leaved forests is strongly influenced by the average diameter at breast height (DBH), the dominant color of the leaves, the ratio of the colored-leaved tree species, the canopy width, and the fallen leaf coverage. The research results can provide scientific reference for the creation of management measures for forests with autumn-colored leaves. |
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id | doaj.art-2126e54b22d34757bd4dbbe7cc978d90 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 1999-4907 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-11T06:31:43Z |
publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
publisher | MDPI AG |
record_format | Article |
series | Forests |
spelling | doaj.art-2126e54b22d34757bd4dbbe7cc978d902023-11-17T11:10:02ZengMDPI AGForests1999-49072023-03-0114354210.3390/f14030542Scenic Beauty Evaluation of Forests with Autumn-Colored Leaves from Aerial and Ground Perspectives: A Case Study in Qixia Mountain in Nanjing, ChinaCe Yang0Ming-Yang Li1Tao Li2Fang Ren3Deng-Pan Li4Liu-An Chen5Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, ChinaCo-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, ChinaCo-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, ChinaCo-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, ChinaCo-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, ChinaCo-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, ChinaIn recent years, on-site visitation has been strictly restricted in many scenic areas due to the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Cloud tourism”, also called online travel, uses high-resolution photographs taken by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as the dominant data source and has attracted much attention. Due to the differences between ground and aerial observation perspectives, the landscape elements that affect the beauty of colored-leaved forests are quite different. In this paper, Qixia National Forest Park in Nanjing, China, was chosen as the case study area, and the best viewpoints were selected by combining tourists’ preferred viewing routes with a field survey, followed by a scenic beauty evaluation (SBE) of the forests with autumn-colored leaves in 2021 from the aerial and ground perspectives. The results show that (1) the best viewpoints can be obtained through the spatial overlay of five landscape factors: elevation, surface runoff, slope, aspect, and distance from the road; (2) the dominant factors influencing the beauty of colored-leaved forests from the aerial perspective are terrain changes, forest coverage, landscape composition, landscape contrast, the condition of the human landscape, and recreation frequency; and (3) the beauty of the ground perspective of the colored-leaved forests is strongly influenced by the average diameter at breast height (DBH), the dominant color of the leaves, the ratio of the colored-leaved tree species, the canopy width, and the fallen leaf coverage. The research results can provide scientific reference for the creation of management measures for forests with autumn-colored leaves.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/14/3/542colored-leaf forestsperspectives of viewpointQixia Mountainscenic beauty evaluation |
spellingShingle | Ce Yang Ming-Yang Li Tao Li Fang Ren Deng-Pan Li Liu-An Chen Scenic Beauty Evaluation of Forests with Autumn-Colored Leaves from Aerial and Ground Perspectives: A Case Study in Qixia Mountain in Nanjing, China Forests colored-leaf forests perspectives of viewpoint Qixia Mountain scenic beauty evaluation |
title | Scenic Beauty Evaluation of Forests with Autumn-Colored Leaves from Aerial and Ground Perspectives: A Case Study in Qixia Mountain in Nanjing, China |
title_full | Scenic Beauty Evaluation of Forests with Autumn-Colored Leaves from Aerial and Ground Perspectives: A Case Study in Qixia Mountain in Nanjing, China |
title_fullStr | Scenic Beauty Evaluation of Forests with Autumn-Colored Leaves from Aerial and Ground Perspectives: A Case Study in Qixia Mountain in Nanjing, China |
title_full_unstemmed | Scenic Beauty Evaluation of Forests with Autumn-Colored Leaves from Aerial and Ground Perspectives: A Case Study in Qixia Mountain in Nanjing, China |
title_short | Scenic Beauty Evaluation of Forests with Autumn-Colored Leaves from Aerial and Ground Perspectives: A Case Study in Qixia Mountain in Nanjing, China |
title_sort | scenic beauty evaluation of forests with autumn colored leaves from aerial and ground perspectives a case study in qixia mountain in nanjing china |
topic | colored-leaf forests perspectives of viewpoint Qixia Mountain scenic beauty evaluation |
url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/14/3/542 |
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