title: [Landscape pattern and its dynamics in typical oasis-desert transitional zone of Minqin Region in 1960-2005].
abstract: By using ERDAS and GIS techniques, a systematic analysis was made on the landscape pattern and its dynamics in typical oasis-desert transitional zone of Minqin Region in 1960-2005. Forest land and cultivated land were the dominant factors leading to the landscape change. During the research period, oasis expanded toward the periphery by 2-3 km, and the transitional zone moved toward desert, with its width increased from 4 km in 1960 to about 9 km in 1987 and decreased rapidly then. In 1978-1987, the landscape change reached the historically highest level; but after 1998, the landscape pattern became relatively stable. In the whole transitional zone, the period with higher fragmented index occurred in 1978-1987, during which, the quickest variation among patch types was observed. The fragmentized regions were located in the area 2 km from oasis and in the forestation area. In 1960-1987, arbor forest tended to vanish. Shrubbery area increased widely before 1987, and decreased sharply since then. The intensity of land reclamation kept increasing in 1960-1998 but decreased after 1998, while the abandon rate had a trend of linear increase during the research period.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Cold and Arid Regions Environment and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China. mr031103@126.com
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Ji-He
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jian-Jun
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: Xiao-Ke
authors.initials: XK
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Hu-Jun
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000254:growth & development*; D003889:Desert Climate; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D045483:Rivers; D017215:Satellite Communications; D014197:Trees / Q000254:growth & development*