Research On River And Stream Ecosystem Resilience In Scenic Areas In China

The presence of natural water resources in scenic areas is the foundational element in maintaining ecosystem health for all ecosystems,in addition to their high aesthetic values from the water landscapes well serving visitors in the park,being located at the source area of a river made it even more important on a regional level,however,conservation of river and stream ecosystems in scenic areas in China has not been paid enough concern at the present stage.Using the Taishan scenic area as a study site,ecosystem resilience theories will be applied in research of conversation practices on river and stream ecosystems in scenic areas in general.The Taishan scenic area in China,recognized as an AAAAA level national scenic spot,was awarded by UNESCO as a world cultural and natural heritage.The level of conservation for the natural and cultural resources in Taishan should be notified with great importance,therefore should live up to high standard of conversation policies,such as the Management Policy 2006 practiced in National Parks in United States,however the current conversation management cannot meet standards of good conservation practices in a natural heritage.The present Chinese scenic area management system have no clear evaluation system in assessing conditions of river and stream ecosystems,making it difficult to find a balanced plan in solving conflicts between the developing tourism activities and the protection of the water resources.Even though the river and stream ecosystems have remarkable contributions to the natural and anthropogenic environments,their value was underestimated.The purpose of this paper is to identify key river and stream ecosystem conservation criteria using the ecosystem resilience approach.With great pressure from tourist activities,how to determine the conservation standards for river and stream ecosystems that have high conversation values has become an urgent problem unsolved in making conservation plans for rivers in scenic areas in China.This paper will provide valuable scientific suggestions in assessing the over all well being of river and stream ecosystems.In this paper,the ecological resilience theory will be applied in practice by identifying the river and stream ecosystem as a social-ecological system.Chapter one will explain the overall background of this research.Chapter two includes terminologies and definitions of resilience theories used and the history of their development.Chapterthree and chapter four are the most important contributions of this paper.An experimental site,the Xi stream of Taishan,will be used for the application of the theory.From an ecosystem resilience perspective,ecosystem threshold will be determined after considering both the social and ecological sides of the system.Three evaluation criteria will be chosen,including 1.United States National Parks Management Policies(2006),2.the Benthic Index of Biotic Integrity(B-IBI),and 3.Rapid Bioassessment Protocols for Use in Streams.In chapter five,scenario planning will be composed to foresee changes in site indicators of tourist activities,livelihood of local communities,dams and other infrastructures,water quality,river flow,and biotic conditions,incuding three different scenarios of tourism marketization,national park transition,and no action.Later,innovative management plans will be suggested to improve the ecological resilience of the system at current condition.In Chapter six,importance of applying ecosystem resilience theories will be disscuessed in practicing landscape planning in scenic areas in China.