Spatial Characteristics of Grassland Landscape in Shanxi Plateau

The spatial characteristics of grassland landscape in Shanxi Plateau were analyzed based on the Map of Grassland Types in Shanxi Plateau(1∶ 500 000).With the help of GIS technique,the map was vectored,and four transects were established and sampled,and a set of landscape indices were used to assess the latitudinal and longitudinal patterns of the grasslands.The results revealed that the grasslands had obvious distribution trends with the changes of latitude and longitude.From the south to the north,the grassland diversity changed from a low level to the highest and to the moderate.The temperate shrub grasslands were dominant in the south-central region(34°52′-37°07′N),both the temperate shrub grasslands and mountain shrub grasslands were dominant in the central region(37°07′-38°01′N),the grassland diversity reached the maximum in the north-central region(38°01′-39°22′N),while the diversity was very low and the area of grassland was very small in the northernmost(39°22′-40°16′N).From the west to the east,the number of grassland patches changed from extremely small to relatively large to small and to extremely large.Furthermore,the results showed that there was a close relationship of grassland distribution with altitude.There was less grassland in the middle basins and the west lowland of Shanxi.There were a large number of grassland patches and abundant types of grasslands in the areas between altitudes 1 000 m and 1 400 m.There were vast areas of grasslands in the high altitudinal zone(1 400-2 200 m).