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Modeling desertification change in Minqin County, China.
Danfeng Sun1, Richard Dawson, Hong Li
1Laboratory for Plant-Soil Interaction Processes, Ministry of Education, College of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. sundf@cau.edu.cn
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
|September 15, 2005
Summary
Desertification in China
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Remote Sensing
- Spatial Analysis
Background:
- Increasing population and economic development pressure fragile environments.
- Environmental monitoring is crucial for assessing and managing environmental change.
- Remote sensing and spatial analysis are key technologies for environmental assessment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess desertification processes and changes in Minqin County, China, between 1988 and 1997.
- To identify dominant causes and grades of desertification.
- To analyze landscape pattern changes associated with desertification.
Main Methods:
- Utilized remote sensing, digital image processing, and spatial analysis.
- Analyzed land area affected by wind erosion and salinization.
- Examined landscape fragmentation, shape complexity, and patch isolation.
Main Results:
- Wind erosion was the primary driver of desertification in over half the study area.
- Salinization affected 33.62% of the land by 1997.
- Moderate desertification (43.64%) and extreme/severe desertification (26.15%) were dominant grades.
- Desertification led to increased landscape fragmentation and complexity.
Conclusions:
- Desertification in Minqin County is driven by wind erosion and salinization.
- Landscape-level changes indicate increasing fragmentation and complexity due to desertification.
- Oasis fringes exhibit dynamic shifts between cultivation, abandonment, and reclamation, highlighting vulnerability.