The Balance Between Biodiversity Conservation And Human Recreation In Urban Green Space Based On Landscape Perception And Preference

Some environmental and social problems have followed with the rapid development of urbanization.How to give full play to the ecological,economic,social and cultural,health and other comprehensive functions of urban green spaces to improve human well-being has become an important issue.Biodiversity is the basic feature of harmonious coexistence of natural organisms,which is of great significance in ensuring the sustainable development of human society and achieving human welfare.However,it is very difficult to reflect the value of both biodiversity and recreation in urban green spaces in practice,mainly due to the lack of knowledge of people’s perception of and preference for biodiversity.Taking Small West Lake Wetland Park in Xianyang,Shaanxi as the study area,this study evaluated the biodiversity of Small West Lake after the field investigation and the establishment of the biodiversity evaluation system.The recreational value of Small West Lake was obtained by a Visitor-Employment Photography survey(VEP)and a questionnaire survey.Finally,SPSS19.0 software was used to analyze the relationship between actual biodiversity and human perception and recreational preference.Based on landscape perception and preference theory of Kaplan and Kaplan,the subjective and objective factors that affected perception and preference were revealed,and the strategies that could balance the relationship between biodiversity conservation and recreation utilization in urban green space planning and design were discussed.The research results showed that:1.Among the six typical habitat types in Small West Lake,the biodiversity was the highest in the green spaces with stratified structure,followed by the dense forest and grass green spaces,while the biodiversity was the lowest in the grey spaces with less green and hard ones.2.There were significant differences in biodiversity perception among different habitats.It was considered that the biodiversity of the green spaces with stratified structure was the highest while that of the sparse forest and grass structure was the lowest.3.There were significant differences in recreation preferences among different habitats.The most preferred habitat was the water environment and the green space with stratified structure,while the least favored was the green space with sparse forest and grass structure.4.Respondents could correctly identify the biodiversity value of the habitats and preferred environments with high biodiversity.5.As the main basis for people’s perception of biodiversity and expression of preferences,landscape contents could significantly influence people’s perceptions and preferences.In addition to landscape contents,experts with ecological knowledge tended to express biodiversity perceptions and preferences through spatial configurations,while non-experts expressed perceptions and preferences through conservation management and personal emotional aspects.6.Respondents believed that the overall biodiversity of Small West Lake was high,and the most attention was paid to plant diversity,with less attention paid to insect diversity.7.In the planning and management of urban green spaces,people’s perception of environmental biodiversity could be promoted by improving the conservation and management level of green space and increasing plant diversity,which could also improve recreational preferences.This study used the interdisciplinary method integrating biodiversity of urban green spaces and recreation to balance the relationship between urban biodiversity conservation and resident recreation and understand the factors affecting biodiversity perception and recreational preferences,providing scientific theoretical basis and practice methods for green space planning,management and designing.