Abstract:Using remote sensing data collected in the years of 1977,1999and 2007,and integrating GIS with analytical methods of landscape ecology,research on changes of land use/cover and landscape pattern of Fukang area in Xinjiang Wei Autonomous Region from 1977to 2006was conducted.The results indicate that:(1)Significant changesin land use/cover have taken place in Fukang area from 1977to 2006.Farmland and construction land increased continually,while the area of forestland,grassland,water land,and salinized land decreased accordingly,and stillthe rate was accelerating.Increase in farmland was mainly from grass land and salinized land,while increasein construction land was mainly from farmland,grass land and unused land.(2)At the class level,spatialconnectedness and landscape dominance of farmland,construction land and unused land increased gradually.Patches of forest,water land and salinized land became more separated,broken and evenly distributed thanbefore and their spatial connectedness decreased.Patches of grassland tended to be more regular and fragmented,but its spatial connectedness hardly changed.Patches of sandlot hardly changed.At the landscapelevel,the heterogeneity of the whole landscape increased in general,and the landscape was evolving in the direction of diversity and evenness.(3)The analysis of driving forces show that:though temperature and precipitation has comparatively large impact upon water land and grassland respectively,anthropogenic factorswere the main driving forces,among which,increase in population was the direct driving force,and improveson policies and industrial structure accelerated the rate of changes of the land use.