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Journal of Desert Research ›› 2026, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (2): 380-390.DOI: 10.7522/j.issn.1000-694X.2025.00141

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Geographical boundary of Ningxia desert steppe and its main ecological issues

Rentao Liu1,2,3(), Jing Cheng2,3, Ying Tian2,3, Hui An1,2,3   

  1. 1.School of Ecology and Environment /, . of Restoration and Reconstruction of Degraded Ecosystems in Northwestern China of Ministry of Education,Ningxia University,Yinchuan 750021,China
    2.Breeding Base for State Key Lab. of Land Degradation and Ecological Restoration in Northwestern China /, . of Restoration and Reconstruction of Degraded Ecosystems in Northwestern China of Ministry of Education,Ningxia University,Yinchuan 750021,China
    3.Key Lab, . of Restoration and Reconstruction of Degraded Ecosystems in Northwestern China of Ministry of Education,Ningxia University,Yinchuan 750021,China
  • Received:2024-12-30 Revised:2025-05-24 Online:2026-03-20 Published:2026-04-13

Abstract:

The area of desert steppe occupies 51.4% of total steppe regions in Ningxia. It plays vital roles in the development of stock husbandry. However, there was largely unknown about its accurate geographical boundary and distribution of Ningxia desert steppe for long time due to different research objectives and goals. It was a necessity to explore its main ecological issues. Regarding its natural features, forming conditions, and practical distribution, we gave out a clear geographical boundary and distribution of Ningxia desert steppe. It included two areas: arid middle area of Ningxia, and piedmont area of eastern Helan mountain, with the area of 1.18×106 hm2 and 2.55×105 hm2, respectively. The administrative region of both areas occupied 52 towns of 10 counties and 18 towns of 8 counties, respectively. The main ecological issues were found below: (1) drought, and scarce of water resources and their uneven distribution in fragile desert steppe region. (2) Heavy grassland degradation and desertification, and strong conflict between grazing and ecological restoration. (3) frequent occurrences of natural hazard and rodent and insect pests constraining the natural recovery. (4) non-balance between land utilization and ecological protection of fragile ecosystems. The main reasons for these mentioned above were: poor natural conditions and environmental essences, unintended reclamation and overgrazing, delayed forecasting and inadequate prevention of natural disasters, a lack of effective implementation in rodent and insect pest management, and irrational management and utilization. In the future, several considerations for protection of Ningxia desert steppe were followed as below: enhancing ecosystem monitoring and evaluation, initialing precise and sustainable ecological projects, promoting scientific innovation and land use structure, summarizing the successful achievements, and strengthening the support of law and policy, and maintaining the status of fragile ecosystem recovery and conservation.

Key words: desert steppe, Ningxia, geographical boundary, distribution range, ecological issues, protection strategy

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