干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Inner Mongolia and Sinkiang plateau is one of the five largest areas with lakes or wetlands in China. The lakes are of typical characteristics under the cold and arid climatic conditions, while the human activities accelerate the eutrophication of the lakes. Wuliangsuhai wetland located in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR) is the study area to analyze the wetland environment evolution in the plateau of Inner Mongolia and Sinkiang. It is the largest freshwater lake in the Yellow River basin, and also the largest natural wetland along the same latitude on the earth. According to the growing conditions of water plants and the differences of water depth, the Wuliangsuhai wetland is divided into six typical areas, i.e. open water area, dense water weed area, reed area, swamp area, shallow water area and artificial reed area. The evolution trends and reasons of the six typical areas of the lake in terms of the variation of wetland characteristics are analyzed by using the Landsat TM/ETM data of eight typical years are singled out from 1986 to 2004, i.e. 1986, 1991, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, the historical data and in-situ survey data. Due to the similar geographical and climatic conditions, the study results of Wuliangsuhai wetland could be expanded to other wetlands of Inner Mongolia and Sinkiang plateau.