Measuring trail users’ perception of crowding in a peri-urban nature park: A best-worst scaling experiment

This paper evaluates the perception of crowding, its determinants and relationship with trail users’ experience in a peri-urban nature park. Existing crowding surveys rely heavily on a single-item 9-point crowding scale which was originally developed for backcountry areas. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to test the validity and reliability of this measure in detecting crowding issues and formulating visitor capacity limits. Low validity and reliability raised concerns about the applicability of this scale in similar frontcountry areas. Inability of this simple crowding measure to detect a visitor threshold brings to the fore its another important limitation – ignorance of the complexity of crowding phenomenon. The perception of crowding varies with various social, psychological and situational factors, and a best-worst scaling (BWS) experiment was designed to simultaneously evaluate different aspects of crowding in the Medvednica Nature Park, a peri-urban nature park near Zagreb, Croatia. The findings of BWS experiment revealed that occupancy of mountain huts, number of other hikers on the trail and amount of litter along the trail on average contributed most to the trail users’ sense of crowding. A latent class analysis identified a large heterogeneity in the perception of crowding; while one group of trail users (63%) was more disturbed by the direct social impacts, the others (37%) were more disturbed by the secondary impacts of other visitors, especially by the negative externalities from road traffic in the park. Older visitors had a greater tendency to primarily associate crowding with the environmental conditions. A higher impact of trail use level in the perception of crowding, younger age and more frequent use were associated with a more negative evaluation of crowding. The park management should closely monitor road traffic in the park and visitor activity on highly used trails, especially on those popular among younger trail users.     

Influence of soil phosphorus status,texture, pH and metal content on the efficacy of amendments to pig slurry in reducing phosphorus losses

Cost‐effective strategies for using chemically amended organic fertilizers need to be developed to minimize nutrient losses in surface and groundwater. Coupling specific soil physical and chemical characteristics with amendment type could increase their effectiveness. This study investigated how water‐extractable phosphorus (P) was affected by chemical amendments added to pig slurry and how this effect varied with soil properties. A 3‐month incubation study was conducted on 18 different mineral soils, stored at 10 °C and 75% humidity and treated with unamended and amended slurry which was incorporated at a rate equivalent to 19 kg total P (TP )/ha. The amendments examined were commercial‐grade liquid alum, applied at a rate of 0.88:1 [Al:TP ], and commercial‐grade liquid poly‐aluminium chloride (PAC ), applied at a rate of 0.72:1 [Al:TP ]. These amendments were previously identified by the authors as being effective in reducing incidental losses of P. The efficacy of the amendments varied with the soil test P, the degree of P saturation (DPS ) and the Mehlich aluminium, iron and calcium, but not soil texture. Chemical amendments were most effective in soils with DPS over approximately 20%. Due to their high cost, the incorporation of amendments into existing management practices can only be justified as part of a holistic management plan where soils have high DPS .     

Can trail spatial attributes predict trail use level in urban forest park? An examination integrating GPS data and space syntax theory

Understanding users’ spatial distribution in forest park is crucial for providing visitors with quality recreation experiences and for park planning and management. Utilizing users’ spatial distribution data, this study aims at investigating associations between trail use level and trail spatial attributes, through examining two large urban forest parks (Gongqing forest park and Paotaiwan forest park) in Shanghai, China. Users’ spatial distribution was measured utilizing GPS trackers with the interval of 10 seconds. This study conceptualizes trail spatial attributes as trail metric attributes and trail configurational attributes. Trail metric attributes include trail mean distance to gates, length, width and level of enclosure, which are calculated based on park map and on-site observation. We computed trail configurational attributes utilizing space syntax theory, which comprise measures of global integration, control, and connectivity. Trail connection with features/facilities, visual connection with water and shading are included as covariate variables. In total, we obtained 134 valid samples in Gongqing forest park and 210 valid samples in Paotaiwan forest park for analysis. Multivariate regression analyses indicate that when involving covariate variables, consistently in both parks, a greater trail usage is significantly related to trail shorter mean distance to park gate, trail width wider than 3 meters, higher global integration and higher control values. Collectively, these four trail spatial attributes explained 31.7 % (p < 0.001) and 27.3 % (p < 0.001) of the variances in trail use level in Gongqing forest park and Paotaiwan forest park. These findings provide direct implications to park designers and managers for providing visitors with different desirable social conditions, and ultimately improve users’ experiences and satisfactions.     

长武塬区苹果园和农田相互转换的深层土壤水环境效应

研究长武塬区苹果园和农田相互转换后0~1 000 cm土壤含水量特征，分析了苹果园土壤干燥化和苹果园转换为农田后土壤水分的恢复效应。结果表明：2、7、17、23、29 a苹果园200~1 000 cm的平均土壤含水量分别为22.8%、21.4%、16.8%、15.4%、14.9%。500~1 000 cm土层中，29 a苹果园平均土壤含水量（14.5%）高于23 a的果园（13.3%）；17~29 a的苹果园均表现为轻度干燥化；基于苹果园和农田转换后土壤水分变化情况估算，苹果园最大种植年限为21 a。苹果园转换为农田1、5、10 a后，农田200~1 000 cm土层土壤含水量分别为：15.3%、15.7%和16.2%，恢复到土壤稳定湿度以上的土层厚度分别为140 cm（1 a）、220 cm（5 a）和400 cm（10 a）。     

社会林业与五指山的自然保护

五指山自然保护区是世界上现存地势最高的原始热带雨林之一，是我省目前面积最大的自然保护区，也是海南三大河流的发源地。但由于保护区横跨琼中、通什、保亭三县、市，紧邻保护区还生存着众多贫困的黎、苗族村民。因此，保护区与周边社区的联系是十分紧密的，社区的发展也直接影响到五指山热带天然林的保护。海南省林业局中德海南热带林保护和恢复项目在社会林业与五指山森林的保护上做出了有益的尝试，就在全省来说，也是首次对社会林业与森林保护上进行的探索。五指山地区社会林业的研究，对保护海南热带雨林也有着积极的意义。特对社会林业与五指山的森林保护进行了阐述、分析和设想。     

森林主产利用计划系统编制工作初探

森林经营方案的编制与实施是提高森林经营水平的重要步骤。在编案中森林主产利用计划系统的编制是关键的工作。本文针对森林主产利用系统在编制过程中存在的问题，提出解决问题的途径、方法及其前景。     

论科技情报的信息媒介意义

科技情报作为一种重要的信息媒介。作者着重地阐述了其具备的宏观俯瞰,微观入里的导引功能。就其科技情报意义与林业科研及生产领域上的信息交流而言提出了自己的见解。     

电超滤浸提土壤养分的研究 Ⅰ.石灰性土壤的电超滤特性

石灰性土壤的电超滤(EUF)特性主要是浸提时因需控制电流而必须大大降低电压。在一定范围内,降压程度与土壤 CaCO_3%有密切关系。控流限额愈低,电压需成比例地下降,但土壤EUF-值减小不多。电流控制在一定值时,离子的解吸总量亦为定值。控流主要控制了各石灰性土壤解吸/溶解份额特大的 Ca+Mg 量近于定值,对于含量小的其他养分离子则并无多大影响,仍可区辨各土壤间的差别。通过冬小麦盆栽试验和有关化学测试法等方面的相关研究,表明采用国际通用的5g 土样和控电流方法测定 EUF-K 和-P 等有效养分,对于石灰性土壤也是可行的,但其EUF-(Ca+Mg)值则毫无植物营养有效性的意义。土壤 EUF 值只是一种指数,并非真正的解吸离子量。石灰性土壤 EUF-K 值因浸提时降压控流而略低,80℃时5min 内解吸的钾不一定是非交换性钾。由于 Ca-P 和 CaCO_3在高温高电压时浸出较多,故石灰性土壤 EUF-P 和-(Ca+Mg)的80℃值/20℃值之比,与酸性土壤或非石灰性土壤相比要大得多。