Abstract:

The effects of recreation on the environment of tourism resorts are almost unavoidable, and these particularly affect vegetation. With the greatly increasing number of visitors and the intensive increase in air pollutants released from hotels and restaurants, the plants in Zhangjiajie National Forestr Park have been polluted and seriously damaged. In order to show the effects of recreation on the growth of plants, on the internal chemical components of plant leaves and on the damage degree of tree trunks, controlled experiments were used to investigate and analyze changes in contents of fluoride and SO2 in the leaves of several tree species, and growth rates of Cunninghamia lanceolata were compared between polluted and non-polluted areas. The degree of tree bark wounding caused by visitors along both sides of the tourism roads was also investigated. The results showed that the contents of fluoride and SO2 in the leaves of C. lanceolata, Cryptomeria fortunei and Pterocarya hupehensis in polluted areas increased 1.6-16 times in comparison to that of non-polluted areas; the annual diameter increment of C． lanceolata growing near the reception area was reduced 32.3%-57.1% compared with that of the control area; a great amount of scars on the tree trunks along the two sides of the tourism roads in Jinbianxi area and Huangshizhai area were cut by visitors, and these scars were distributed among the part of the trunks 1.2-1.6 m above the ground. The wound degree was mainly related to tree species, smoothing degree of the tree bark, and the distances from tree to the edge of tourism roads and the directions the trunks face. To protect the vegetation in the park, it is vital to improve the park’s fuel structure, reduce the amount of reception sites and improve the environmental education of visitors.