TEMPORAL–SPATIAL CHANGE IN SOIL DEGRADATION AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH LANDSCAPE TYPES IN A DESERT–OASIS ECOTONE: A CASE STUDY IN THE FUBEI REGION OF XINJIANG PROVINCE, CHINA

Abstract

Desert–oasis ecotone is an interactive area between desert and oasis ecosystems which plays an important role in ensuring oasis ecological security and maintaining oasis internal stabilization. The studied region had experienced dramatic landscape change and soil degradation during the 20th century, especially in the last two decades. To document the status and evaluate this degradation process, geostatistics and GIS map algebra were used to quantify the temporal–spatial changes in landscape pattern and soil degradation from 1983 to 2005. The results showed that: (1) the change of landscape pattern due to human activities was the key reason responsible for the increasing of landscape diversity and fragmentation; (2) the extent of soil degradation was higher near desert ecosystem than oasis, and human activities were the major driving forces in ameliorating the soil properties; and (3) soil degradation is weaker in regions of bad soil quality than regions of good soil quality due to both human activities and natural processes.