Landscape patterns of rocky desertification in homogenous dolomite catchments in Guizhou Province

Three homogenous dolomite catchments with different landforms in Guizhou Province were selected to analyze the landscape pattern of rocky desertification. The rocky desertification was most severe in slope areas where the landscape diversity index and landscape evenness index were the highest,followed by in valley areas. The landscape shape index and landscape fragmentation index were the highest in valley areas,followed by in plateau areas,and the landscape contagion index decreased gradually from plateau to valley areas. Slope areas had the largest area and the highest intensity of rocky desertification,and their landscape was instable; valley areas had larger area of moderate rocky desertification,and natural factors dominated the development of their landscape; while plateau areas had stable landscape,and its ecological environment was the best.