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Improving the understanding of temporal and spatial behaviour of tourists is important for enhancing sustainable management of tourism. In recent years, with the emergence of photo-sharing Internet communities, many photographers have posted their photographs on the Internet and made them freely accessible. Generally attached to these shared photos is information about where and when the photos were taken, providing clues to establish the temporal and spatial distribution of the photographers. In this paper, we described a photography-based approach to analyse Chinese tourists' temporal–spatial behaviour identified from 1308 photos taken in the Old Town of Lijiang. We estimated tourists' temporal variation, length of stay, daily average number of tourists, individual movement traces and tourist hotspots. The results suggest that the photo-based methods have obvious advantages. We believe that this wealth of publicly available data sources with spatio-temporal information will provide a new perspective in analysing tourist flow distribution and tourist hotspots and will be helpful to plan tourism resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Erosion control is one of the most important functions of forest ecosystems, and its accurate assessment is useful to illuminate the importance of forest ecosystem services for humans so as to rationally conserve forest resources. This paper examines Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, the first national forest park in China, to seek practical methods for assessment of the forest erosion control function using a geographical information system (GIS). The results show that the potential and actual amounts of soil erosion are 2.92 million ton and 0.14 million ton per year, respectively, in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. The total reduction in soil loss reaches 2.77 million ton per year with the existence of a forest ecosystem. The erosion control function of near mature, mature and over mature broadleaf forest is excellent, and natural forest conservation and natural restoration of the degraded forest ecosystem can provide the largest benefits in soil erosion control. Nearly all the near mature, mature and over-mature forest in the park is at the top and in steep mountain areas, and could be rationally cut and utilized by local communities, but extensive timber felling should be strictly prohibited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a study on water-eroded desertification in Yunnan Province, we used remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) to determine the areas of water-eroded desertified land objectively, to analyze the spatial distribution and causes of desertification in association with the geologic background, and to propose the appropriate measures for prevention and control. We found that the area of water-eroded desertification in 2008 was 35,949.69 km2, accounting for 9.39% of the total land area in Yunnan. The main reason of desertification is the combined impact of the development of geologic structures and specific lithology. Human factors exacerbate and sometimes induce the desertification. We recommend that the desertification prevention and control should focus on the desertification-prone areas, including the neighboring regions of active faults such as the Jinsha River–Hong River fault, Yuanmou–Luzhi River fault, Fuyuan–Mile fault, Wenshan–Malipo fault, Nanpan River fault, Xiao River fault, and Qujing–Zhaotong fault; the sedimentary and Quaternary regions covered by mudstone, clay stone, and carbonate rocks; and the neotectonic regions such as the fold-style uplift region in east Yunnan, the secondary uplift region in southeast Yunnan, and the large block-style uplift region in central Yunnan. The population pressure should be reduced and industrial activities such as construction and mining should be more strictly regulated to prevent human activities from exacerbating water-eroded desertification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ecological and environmental relationship between a natural reserve (NR) and its surrounding area is a ‘hotspot’ in the human–environment relationship. However, the effect of landscape pattern of the surrounding land-use changes on the NR has not been thoroughly explored. How to protect the NR has become an issue of major concern. This research analysed the land-use/land-cover (LULC) change of the NR and its surrounding area using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images and applied theories of landscape ecology to study the effect of the surrounding LULC on the wetland landscape of the NR in Tianjin, China. The results show that (1) the wetland area decreased from 122,461.11 ha in 1988 to 111,753.99 ha in 2008 while the built-up area expanded from 11,983.22 ha in 1988 to 20,197.71 ha in 2008; (2) landscape diversity will increase along with direct LULC in the NR and its surrounding area, where human activities have already diversified the original wetland landscape; and (3) the unitary landscape has been replaced by diverse landscapes and the land type that was once dominant has lost its status. Restoring the watershed wetland is a good method for realising protection of the NR. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Scientifically sound planning of green-space networks is essential for improving the quality of the urban environment. This article introduces an investigation on design of a green-space network for Lijiang City, a world natural and cultural heritage site undergoing rapid urbanisation. Land-use changes were examined using China–Brazil Earth Resources Satellite-02B (CBERS-02B) imagery. We divided the urban green-space network into five major components: a linear strip, a corridor and three separate series of green-space clusters. We suggest that the future development of a green-space network in Lijiang City should include an appropriate mixture of the five green-space components. While the current emphasis on green-space layout relies on individual components of the green space, the future layout should be more focused on green spaces along streets and rivers, and should utilise a greater variety of shapes, including dots, linear strips and irregular shapes. The final green-space network should form an urban garden and green-space network that combines multipurpose vegetated areas having different structures. This green-space network will be an integral part of the sustainable urban development of Lijiang City. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]