Temporal and Spatial Distribution of Grassland Degradation in Eastern Inner Mongolia:A Case Study in Balinyouqi

Taking Eastern Inner Mongolia region as the study area and using Landsat TM and MSS image and supported by GIS special analysis function and geological statistical function,this paper studies the temporal and spatial distribution of grassland degradation in typical pastoral area in order to find the driven factors for grassland degradation.This can be the basis of establishing the control measures and project.The result shows that the grassland area in study region hasn't changed greatly from 1976 to 2000.However,the area of degraded grassland is large and the area of deserted grassland occupies 43.79% of the total.From the spatial distribution,the grassland degradation mainly happens in the region where slope is no more than 5 degree;The rate of grassland degradation goes down with the elevation of altitude.The grassland area is bigger in the sunny slope(including the southern slope,the southeast slope and the southwest slope),and the semi-sunny slope(including the eastern slope and the western slope) than that in the northern slope and degradation rate there is low.The area of flat grassland is the low the degradation rate is high.The road and other traffic infrastructure construction have effects on grassland degradation because of the livestock grazing and trample.Analysis shows that the slope degree,direction of slope facet,and altitude have great effects on grassland distribution in the study area.At the same time,the relation between the grassland distribution and the distance to resident site and roads is significant.Human activities have destroyed the balanced grassland ecosystem and become one of important driving forces for grassland degradation.