Assessment of landscape resource using the scenic beauty estimation method at compound ecological system.

Landscape resource assessment of compound ecological system is the basic condition for planning various management activities. After field survey and obtaining landscape photos of the Badaling region, we built the evaluation system of landscape resources. Then, we recruited people to evaluate the indicators of different scenic spots with evaluation system and overall evaluation by scenic beauty estimation method (SBE). The results showed that A01 and A05 gave a good impression to tourists from the point of view of scenic spots. Judging from the evaluation indicators, the entire region had a high score in geological landscape, while some of the scenic spots had low scores in humanity landscape. Overall evaluation has better practicability for the area with better landscape. The two evaluation methods are consistent in evaluating good landscape by SBE, through analyzing the main reasons for the differences in evaluation. The results and methodology can benefit landscape resource assessments as well as provide support on planning and management for compound ecological system.

Quantifying ecosystem services of dominate forests in the Beijing mountain area.

In this study, the forest landscape in the Beijing mountain area is assessed using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs model. The results showed the natural forests have higher functional capital than the planted forests and different species contribute to different ecological functions. Specifically, Larix gmelinii forests have the highest water resources and soil conservation function which are about 334.14 m3 hm-2 year-1 and 115.92 t hm-2 year-1; Betula allegansis forests have the highest carbon storage and biodiversity function which are about 128.46 t hm-2 year-1 and 0.76. Besides soil, water is conserved more within coniferous forests than within broadleaf forests. Carbon sequestration and the functional capacity for biodiversity within a unit area of coniferous forests are much smaller than those within a unit area of a broadleaf forest. Previous studies highlight the forest management strategies will influence the ecosystem functions while in the current studies we also found the species option during the afforestation is equally important and protecting of the natural forests is more important than afforestation for maintaining the ecological functional capitals.

Assessing the spatiotemporal characteristics of dry deposition flux in forests and wetlands.

Forests and wetlands, as two important ecosystems, play a crucial role in reducing the concentration of particulate matters. The main purpose of this study is to reveal the contribution of forest and wetland ecosystems to the reduction of particulate matter. We collected the concentration and meteorological data during the daytime in a forest and a wetland in the Olympic Park in Beijing. The main results are as follows: daily variation in the PM10 and PM2.5 concentration had the similar trend with the lowest value at midday and relatively high values in the morning and at nightfall. In the forest ecosystem, the trend of PM10 concentration at three heights followed the order: 6 m > 10 m > 1.5 m, while that of the PM2.5 followed the order 1.5 m > 10 m > 6 m. In the wetland, PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations at the three heights exhibited the same trend: 10 m > 1.5 m > 6 m. It is a comprehensive impact on concentration which may include vegetation collection rate, meteorological conditions and some kind of human activities. The PM deposition velocity of wetland was higher than that of forest, and showed the highest values in winter both in PM2.5 and PM10. The PM deposition flux in wetland was lower than forest only in autumn, and the value of deposition flux was higher than forest in other seasons. PM concentrations was positively correlated with relative humidity but negatively correlated with temperature and wind velocity.

Water quantity and quality changes from forested riparian buffer in Beijing.

As a transitional zone between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, the riparian buffer is an important control measure for non-point source pollution. The research presented here mainly discussed the interception efficiencies of different vegetation types for nitrogen and phosphorus pollution. The results showed that canopy, shrub, and grass interceptions basically accounted for about 80.0% of total interception, and therefore riparian buffer configurations should clearly distinguish three levels of vegetation types. (1) Canopy, shrub, grass, and litter interceptions of Pinus tabuliformis (YS) were the highest, up to about 71.1%. (2) Platycladus orientalis (CB) had the highest transportation and enrichment for the elements nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) throughout the process, which the value of TP decreased from 0.2 to 0.12 mg/L and the value of TN decreased from 5.0 to 2.5 mg/L. (3) The transportation of total phosphorus (TP) of the three tree species was higher than the transportation of total nitrogen (TN), showing that the enrichment of P was stronger than that of N. Thus, Pinus tabuliformis is the best configuration for rainfall interception, while Platycladus orientalis is the best configuration for N and P removals. Different forest configurations should also be considered to build a riparian buffer to remove nutrient in the future.

Removal efficiency of particulate matters at different underlying surfaces in Beijing.

Particulate matter (PM) pollution has been increasingly becoming serious in Beijing and has drawn the attention of the local government and general public. This study was conducted during early spring of 2013 and 2014 to monitor the concentration of PM at three different land surfaces (bare land, urban forest, and lake) in the Olympic Park in Beijing and to analyze its effect on the concentration of meteorological factors and the dry deposition onto different land cover types. The results showed that diurnal variation of PM concentrations at the three different land surfaces had no significant regulations, and sharp short-term increases in PM10 (particulate matter having an aerodynamic diameter <10 µm) occurred occasionally. The concentrations also differed from one land cover type to another at the same time, but the regulation was insignificant. The most important meteorological factor influencing the PM concentration is relative humidity; it is positively correlated with the PM concentration. While in the forests, the wind speed and irradiance also influenced the PM concentration by affecting the capture capacity of trees and dry deposition velocity. Other factors were not correlated with or influenced by the PM concentration. In addition, the hourly dry deposition in unit area (µg/m(2)) onto the three types of land surfaces and the removal efficiency based on the ratio of dry deposition and PM concentration were calculated. The results showed that the forest has the best removal capacity for both PM2.5 (particulate matter having an aerodynamic diameter <2.5 µm) and PM10 because of the faster deposition velocity and relatively low resuspension rate. The lake's PM10 removal efficiency is higher than that of the bare land because of the relatively higher PM resuspension rates on the bare land. However, the PM2.5 removal efficiency is lower than that of the bare land because of the significantly lower dry deposition velocity.

Particulate matter assessment of a wetland in Beijing.

To increase the knowledge on the particulate matter of a wetland in Beijing, an experimental study on the concentration and composition of PM10 and PM2.5 was implemented in Beijing Olympic Forest Park from 2013 to 2014. This study analyzed the meteorological factors and deposition fluxes at different heights and in different periods in the wetlands. The results showed that the mean mass concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 were the highest at 06:00-09:00 and the lowest at 15:00-18:00. And the annual concentration of PM10 and PM2.5 in the wetland followed the order of dry period (winter)>normal water period (spring and autumn)>wet period (summer), with the concentration in the dry period significantly higher than that in the normal water and wet periods. The chemical composition of PM2.5 in the wetlands included NH4(+), K(+), Na(+), Mg(2+), SO4(2-), NO3(-), and Cl(-), which respectively accounted for 12.7%, 1.0%, 0.8%, 0.7%, 46.6%, 33.2%, and 5.1% of the average annual composition. The concentration of PM10 and PM2.5 in the wetlands had a significant positive correlation with relative humidity, a negative correlation with wind speed, and an insignificant negative correlation with temperature and radiation. The daily average dry deposition amount of PM10 in the different periods followed the order of dry period>normal water period>wet period, and the daily average dry deposition amount of PM2.5 in the different periods was dry period>wet period>normal water period.