Relation between some variations of soil and surface vegetatio and desertization in agriculture-pasture interlacing zone an example from Kangbao County,North Hebei,China

The studied agriculture|pasture interlacing zone has its specific natural conditions, at which the natural systems are unstable, their self|regulation capability is low and the equilibrium is easily broken, and hence the habitat is fairly vulnerable. During last 20 years the increasing population and livestock, over|reclamation, over|pasturing, over|deforesting, and other intensified negative human activities in the zone resulted in coarsening of surface soil, decrease of organic mater content in soil, reduction of vegetation coverage, variation and degradation of flora structure, and hence in desertization of the land, although average of gales and sandstorms some decreased and the climate tended to be better in the region. However, the frequent sandstorms occurring in the springs of last and present years has attracted much attention. Investigations confirmed that the main cause for the phenomena is the unreasonable human activities rather than the natural factors.