Objective China’s protected areas have dual attributes of nature and humanity. Cultural landscape, as a synthesis of humanistic material elements and their combination forms in the natural environment, reflects the relationship between man and nature at typical historical nodes. Foreign research on the cultural value of protected areas involves a number of fields. To effectively identify the cultural value of protected areas, it is necessary to combine the two methods of landscape character assessment (LCA) and historic landscape characterization (HLC), which can not only take full advantage of digital and spatial information technology, but also identify the types and characters of local historical landscape in a fully covered manner from the bottom up, thus providing a scientific basis for the identification of cultural value of protected areas. In China, the research on the cultural value of protected areas is mainly concentrated in the fields of scenic spots, traditional mountains and heritage sites, with the evaluation of spot scenic resources being the main research method for identification, while the analysis of the dynamic evolution characteristics of cultural landscape is lacking. The key to the spatial planning and the overall management and protection of natural protected areas in China is to identify the characters of cultural landscape systematically, objectively and visually, and to realize the regional and visual analysis.

Methods Taking Wuyishan National Park as an example, this research, based on the dynamic and stratified characters of cultural landscape, adopts the methods of LCA and HLC in the landscape character identification stage to identify the characters of cultural landscape in multiple typical historical periods, interprets the stratified evolution process of cultural landscape in Wuyishan National Park in terms of time series structure, and defines the high-stratification cultural area, namely the area with the most significant cultural stratification characteristics. At the same time, considering that most domestic and foreign researches select identification elements from the two aspects of nature and culture, while paying less attention to scientificity and objectivity, this research introduces the technology of GeoDetector to screen character identification elements to provide a reference for the quantitative identification of cultural resources in China’s national parks and the scientific judgment of landscape representation.

Results The results show that: From the static historical node, Wuyishan National Park presents 6 categories, 17 categories, 14 categories, 21 categories, 24 categories and 36 categories of cultural landscape characters in Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties and contemporary times respectively. From the perspective of long-term evolution law, the number of cultural landscape shows a rising trend from Tang Dynasty to contemporary times. The number of cultural landscape increased significantly in Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, with the Taoist and neo-Confucianism cultural landscapes occupying a dominant position in all the aforesaid dynasties. In terms of space, the spatial structure of cultural landscape is becoming more and more perfect. The contemporary Wuyishan National Park has formed a “T-shaped” structure of nine curved streams and a “sheeted” cluster in the north of the mountain. In terms of form, the cultural landscape as a whole presents the evolution law of “single fixed – multiple coexistence – alternating change”. It is identified that the high-stratification area of cultural landscape in the Mount Wuyi is located in the central and eastern parts of the Jiuqu River (from the first to the seventh curved section of the river) as well as the north and south banks of the river, including 243 cultural landscape source points, 19 faceted mountain caves and 9 linear rivers. The high-stratification area of cultural landscape reflects the core landscape value of the Mount Wuyi and is an important area representing the landscape in the national park. The reasons for the stratification differences of the cultural landscape in Wuyishan National Park include nature and humanity. Specifically, river system and topographic conditions are the main natural factors, and political belief, economic development, cultural integration and personal communication are the main human factors that produce the stratification differences of the cultural landscape in Wuyishan National Park.

Conclusion Compared with previous researches, this research provides a new research idea for identification of the representation of cultural landscape in national parks in three aspects: identification elements, identification process and application of results from the perspective of stratification evolution. In terms of identification elements, the analysis of the correlation between cultural landscape distribution and natural environment elements is taken as a prerequisite, and character identification elements are selected by GeoDetector, which increases the natural – cultural integrity and scientificity of relevant indicators. In the process of identification, the research starts from the six typical historical nodes of Wuyishan National Park, broadens the historical time dimension, constructs a grading standard for the time hierarchy of cultural landscape, and identifies the high-stratification area of cultural landscape in the national park. In terms of result application, the research provides a scientific quantitative and spatial means to clarify the regional cultural value, which is helpful for the classification and control of cultural resources in national parks, and provides a reference basis for the scientific identification of stratification research and landscape representation.