摘要：Planting vegetation to restore the soil environment is one of the most important methods for combatingdesertification. Reasonable vegetation type and vegetation coverage has an important role in sand controland the regional ecological security. The objective of this study is to clarify the appropriate type and coverageof sand-fixing vegetation in the Mu Us Desert. We identified changes in the topsoil properties as affected bydifferent types and coverage of sand-fixing vegetation, and assessed the relationship between the soil fractaldimension (D) and major soil properties. Our results showed that: (1) with increasing cover of sand-fixingvegetation, fine soil material and soil nutrient content increased, indicating that the soil environment couldaccelerate restoration after planting or recovery of sand-fixing vegetation; (2) there were significant positiverelationships between D and soil properties, which indicated that D was a sensitive and useful index forevaluating the influence of sand-fixing vegetation on soil physicochemical properties; and (3) recovery ofnatural vegetation using fencing should be given priority in areas where the soil matrix is not completelydestroyed, and plant cover should be maintained at approximately 40% to 60%. We suggest that nativeshrubs, rather than trees, should be considered when choosing a sand-fixing vegetation.
