title: [Diverse boundaries between patches within the sandy landscape in Mu Us sandy land].
abstract: A terrestrial landscape is a mosaic of heterogeneous landforms, vegetation types, and land uses. Boundaries between neighbor patches become conspicuous components of ecological landscapes. The vegetation cover, plant species number, species similarity, soil organic C content, and soil organic N content crossing neighbor patches in Mu Us sandy land were investigated. The results showed that boundaries determined on the basis of each parameter differed, which compared favorably with the previous studies on ecotone dynamics and ecological boundaries delineation.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Quantitative Vegetation Ecology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China. chenyf@igsnrr.ac.cn
authors.forename: Yufu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dong
mesh_terms: D004463:Ecology; D005843:Geography; D063245:Plant Development; D012987:Soil
chemical_list: D012987:Soil