Applied Research of Landscape Ecology in Desertification Monitoring and Assessment

Advances in desertification monitoring and assessment in the People's Republic of China are reported. Classification of landscape elements and the development and use of diversity and other assessment indices are discussed. Application of the landscape ecology framework to the Shazhuyu District, a desertified area of Qinghai Province reveals an increase in the diversity index of the landscape during 1958-94, indicating an increase in the heterogeneity of landscape elements. An increase in the diversity index of desertified land denotes a reduced percentage difference between moving sand dune, semi-fixed sand dune, and fixed sand dune.