Analysis of desertification feature of typical steppe grassland based on fractal theory: A case study of Xilin GOL League

Desertification is one of the major natural disturbances affecting human lives and livelihoods, especially, the typical steppe grassland in Xilin GOL League. Analyzing the desertification change feature is an important step toward mitigating the impact of desertification on human life and property. In this paper, we applied fractal theory and remote sensing-based methods to analyze the spatial pattern change at Xilin GOL League comprehensively. The study conclusions include that: generally the desertification of land use in Xilin GOL League turn to be improved, even though some areas may feature deterioration to some extent. The D value and S value of different kinds of desertification land use fluctuating is a similar situation to 1990, 2000 and 2010.With the change of time, the mean D value of desertification was decreasing from 1.405383 to 1.402525, and it implied that the area of desertification was decreasing, and that maybe results from the climate of abundant precipitation and high temperature in recent years. While the mean S value of desertification was increasing from 0.094617 to 0.097475, which suggested that there was a stable change trend of desertification mostly because of the protection policy of desertification by the local department and the eco-environment of here turn to be more stability. These results can provide an important support to understand the change trend of desertification land use in Xilin GOL League, and be helpful to conduct desertification protection and management scientifically.