Land use changes in Ningxia lead to increased forest cover and fragmentation.
The study analyzed changes in land use and landscape patterns in Pengyang County, Ningxia, using remote sensing data and GIS. The researchers found that forest and grassland areas increased, while farmland and unused land decreased. The landscape became more fragmented, with patches distributed in a mixed pattern. Diversity and evenness increased initially, then decreased, while connectivity between patches decreased and then increased.