Analysis of the landscape pattern and aesthetic characteristics of the Hani terraced fields

Abstract

The Yuanyang terraced fields,famous for their large area,wide distribution,astonishing construction and rarity in world,were identified as the core area of the cultural landscape of Hani terraces by the government of Honghe district,Yunnan province,China.The terraces were the physical basis of Hani peoples' life and the symbolization of Hani peoples' spirit.And the cultural landscape of Hani terraces was the model of sustainable land use and harmonious human ecosystem between culture and nature.Thus,we took the Yuanyang terraced fields as objects,calculated the landscape metrics,such as shape,number,density and area using the landscape structure analysis software-FRAGSTATS at class and landscape levels.The patch granularity and the neighboring characteristics were counted using Geographic Information System ArcView,and the relationship between landscape pattern and aesthetic character istics was analyzed finally.The results indicated that: 1) The dry land,dense forest,shrubbery and paddy field constituted the most part of landscape.Both the farmland and the forest accounted for 40% of the total area of the landscape,forming a predominant pattern of the landscape.But however,water area and uncovered land or rock were lack as a landacake component in Yuanyang County.2) Patches of the housing area had the maximum numbers and small size.Dry land had the most complex shape and the most centralized distribution pattern.The natural grassland and other garden plots had the minimum numbers and the most dispersed distribution pattern.The huge-sized and medium-sized patches were distributed alternatively,forming a relatively fragmentized landscape pattern.3) The edge length and edge numbers of the neighboring types as well as the percentages differed evidently,and most of the types were adjacent to dry land which impacted on them intensively.4) In the landscape,the area of paddy terraced fields occupied a higher proportion,being 16%.There were 253 patches with an average patch area larger than many other types,further more,the nearest distance among the patches was only 469.4m.All of the aforementioned landscape patterns were contributive to the aesthetic characteristics of scale.5) The vertical pattern of forest-village-terrace was important to the harmonious aesthetics of landscape structure.6) The neighboring and size characteristics of landscape were one of the landscape patterns.It was very significant to analyze the relationship between landscape pattern and aesthetic characteristics.