Landscape pattern of rocky desertification in karst depression areas

Rocky desertification is one of the eco-geological disasters widely distributed in karst areas of Southwest China, and one of the hotspots and difficulties in ecology and environmental sciences. From the viewpoints of landscape ecology, and with the help of Erdas 9. 1 and ArcGIS 9? 0, a case study was made in the Puding County of Guizhou Province, aimed to understand the landscape pattern of rocky desertification in karst depression areas of Southwest China, and to compare it with those in the other karst geomorphologic areas. Overall, the rocky desertification in the karst depression areas of Puding County was not serious and presented a dispersed distribution, while that in other karst geomorphologic areas was much serious and showed an aggregate distribution pattern with big rocky desertification patches. In karst depression areas, the main types of rocky desertification were potential rocky desertification, light rocky desertification, and moderate rocky desertification. With the increasing degree of rocky desertification, patch fragmentation increased. The rocky desertification degree in karst depression areas was lower than that in other karst geomorphologic areas, but the karst depression areas in Puding County had much more serious rocky desertification than those in whole Guizhou Province or Anshun City, illustrating that the rocky desertification in karst depression areas in Puding County was rather serious, being a problem needed to be solved urgently.