Objective The sense of smell is of vital importance to humans. Olfactory landscapes have a remarkable influence on human physiology, behaviors, and emotions. Nature reserves boast relatively unique types of scents, with their characteristic mechanisms differing from those of urban olfactory landscapes. However, current research on olfactory landscapes mainly centers around cities and gardens. The aim of this research is to clarify the elements of olfactory landscapes in the built environment of nature reserves and their influence mechanisms on human perception, so as to: 1) construct a classification system for the olfactory landscapes in the Jiuzhaigou World Natural Heritage Site; 2) explore the action paths of the characteristics of different types of olfactory landscapes on tourists’ perception; 3) provide new evidence for the knowledge system through the evidence of olfactory landscape walks.
Methods This research investigates olfactory landscapes in the Jiuzhaigou World Natural Heritage Site, focusing on how odors affect visitors’ perceptions of the environment. The reserve, recognized for its rich biodiversity and natural beauty, is studied through an olfactory walking survey, where eight key olfactory areas are identified. Data is collected from 100 healthy participants via interviews and questionnaires conducted between July 27–29, 2022. The participants, aged from under 18 to over 60, are asked to identify odors and rate their perceptions of the environment based on 12 sensory indicators such as familiarity, sweetness, and naturalness. Interviews help categorize odors into various types, such as human-driven, facility-driven, water-driven, plant-driven, and soil-driven odors. Statistical analysis, conducted in Excel and SPSS, focuses on the frequency of odor categories, the mean sensory ratings, and the correlations between olfactory characteristics and perceptions. The research adopts Spearman partial correlation to analyze relationships while adjusting for other factors. The goal is to explore how different elements of olfactory landscapes influence visitors’ experiences, in hope of providing valuable insights into the role of smell in enhancing natural tourism and environmental design.
Results Respondents identify odors at eight sampling sites, which are categorized into four types of olfactory landscapes based on the dominant smells. 1) Human-dominated landscape: Site 7 has a 50.00% probability of odor manifestation (POM), dominated by incense from Tibetan Buddhist prayers. 2) Facility-dominated landscape: Site 3, with a POM of 47.06%, has wood smells from pavilions and boardwalks. 3) Water-vapor-dominated landscape: At sites 2 and 5, the odor is influenced by damp and cool characteristics of waterfalls, with POMs of 50.00% and 35.90%, respectively. 4) Plant-dominated landscape: Sites 1, 4, 6, and 8 have vegetation-based odors. Site 1 is dominated by grass with a POM of 36.84%, while the others have tree-dominant smells, with POMs ranging from 20.00% to 57.15%. The mean scores for perceptual evaluations and odor characteristics reveal the following: 1) Human-dominated and water vapor-dominated landscapes score the highest in liking, relaxation, and satisfaction, ranking first and second, respectively; 2) plant-dominated landscapes rank lowest in satisfaction; 3) facility-dominated landscapes score lowest in liking and relaxation. In terms of odor characteristics: 1) Human-dominated landscapes excel in familiarity, compatibility, sweetness, intensity, and uniqueness; 2) water vapor-dominated landscapes score highest in naturalness, freshness, diffusion, exposure frequency, and persistence; 3) plant-dominated landscapes score highest in recognition and mixing; 4) facility-dominated landscapes rank lowest in compatibility, freshness, uniqueness, and diffusion. Further analysis is conducted to explore how the characteristics of the olfactory landscapes influence perceptual evaluations: 1) Human-dominated landscapes: Familiarity is strongly positively correlated with relaxation (p < 0.01), with no significant correlations found for other indicators; 2) Facility-dominated landscapes: Compatibility and naturalness are positively correlated with liking (p < 0.05) and relaxation (p < 0.01), and sweetness, naturalness, and mixing are positively correlated with liking; 3) water vapor-dominated landscapes: Duration is positively correlated with liking, while familiarity and duration are negatively correlated with satisfaction; 4) plant-dominated odor: Compatibility, uniqueness, and exposure frequency are positively correlated with liking, while compatibility, naturalness, uniqueness, diffusion, and persistence are correlated with relaxation.
Conclusion Understanding and revealing the current situation of olfactory landscapes in World Natural Heritage Sites is of great theoretical and practical significance for improving environmental quality and tourism experience. Based on on-site investigations and tourist perception evaluations, this research establishes a classification framework system for the scent landscapes in Jiuzhaigou and analyzes in detail the differences in elemental characteristics and perception evaluations of four types of olfactory landscapes. The research finds that: 1) For human-dominated olfactory landscapes, there is only a highly significant positive correlation between familiarity and relaxation, and there is no significant correlation among the three perception evaluation indicators; 2) facility-dominated olfactory landscapes are below the average level in all perception evaluation indicators and receive the most negative ratings; 3) water vapor-dominated olfactory landscapes usually receive high perception ratings, and exceed the average level in all evaluation indicators; 4) plant-dominated olfactory landscapes stand out in relaxation ratings, with relaxation being related to its degree of matching, naturalness, uniqueness, diffusivity, exposure frequency, persistence, and degree of mixing. The same elemental characteristics have significant differences in the degree of influence and priority order on perception evaluations in different types of olfactory landscapes. The research results further emphasize the unique role of aroma in creating spiritual value and the significant influence of plant scents on relaxation experience.
DownLoad: