Oasis landscape change and its pattern dynamics are considered one of the vital research areas on global land use and landscape change in arid regions. An agricultural oasis is the main site of food security and ecosystem services in arid areas. Recently, the dramatic exploitation of agricultural oases has affected oasis stability, inducing some ecological and environmental issues such as water shortage and land degradation. In this study, the Qira oasis on the southern margin of Tarim Basin, Northwest China, was selected as a study area to examine the spatiotemporal changes in an agricultural oasis and the influence on oasis landscape pattern. Based on the integration of Thematic Mapper, Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus, and GF-1 images, the agricultural Qira oasis has rapidly increased, with annual change rates of −0.3%, 1.6%, 3.7%, and 1.5% during 1970–1990, 1990–2000, 2000–2013, and 2013–2016, respectively. With the agricultural oasis expansion, the agricultural land has increased from 91.10 km² in 1970 to 105.04 km² in 2016. The percentage of farmland area has increased by 15.3% in 2016 compared with that in 1970. The natural vegetation is decreasing owing to the reclamation of desert–oasis ecotone. The oasis landscape change and pattern are mainly affected by agricultural expansion under water-saving technological utilization, land use policy, and regional economic development demand. The expansion of agricultural oasis is alarming due to human overexploitation. Thus, the government should adjust the layout of agricultural development and pay considerable attention to the oasis environment sustainability. This study can provide a valuable reference on the impact of climate change and human activities on a landscape.

The Tarim Basin is regarded as one of the most highly erodible areas in China. Desert comprises 64% of the land use in the Basin, but the desert–oasis ecotone plays a prominent role in maintaining oasis ecological security and stability. Yet, little is known concerning the magnitude of windblown sediment transport in a desert-oasis ecotone. Therefore, aeolian sediment transport and loss was assessed from a desert-oasis experimental site located near Alaer City in the northwestern Tarim Basin. Sediment transport and factors governing transport were measured during three high wind events in 2012 and four events in 2013. Sediment transport was measured to a height of 10 m using passive aeolian airborne sediment samplers. The mass flux profile over the eroding surface was well represented by the power-law (R² > 0.77). Sediment loss from the site ranged from 118 g m⁻² for the 20–24Apr 2012 wind event to 2925 g m⁻² for the 31Mar–11Apr 2012 event. Suspension accounted for 67.4 to 84.8% of sediment loss across all high wind events. Our results indicate the severity of wind erosion in a desert-oasis ecotone and thus encourage adoption of management practices that will enhance oasis ecological security.

Soil quality is a key environmental factor in developing sustainable agricultural. In the oases located at the southern margin of the Tarim Basin of Xinjiang, China, agriculture is the main land use type. However, management intensities differ in the oases and in the process of oasis growth. In 2004, four experimental fields were established in the Cele oasis, representing four typical land-use types according to local farmers tillage practices, namely newly cultivated land (NEF), a field with normal fertilization (NMF), a field with high fertilization (HMF), and a field in the oasis' interior (OIF), in order to analyze the effects of land-use type on soil nutrient content. Additionally, soil from an uncultivated control plot (CTP) was analyzed for comparison. The soil quality index (SQI) and deterioration index (DI) were used to evaluate the effects of different land-use type. Sustainable yield index (SYI) was calculated to evaluate sustainable productivity of these land-use types, based on 4 years of data. Our results indicate (i) statistically significant differences in SOM, total nitrogen N (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and available phosphorus (AP) between the different farmlands; (ii) NEF, in the desert–oasis ecotone, had the lowest soil quality, even lower than CTP, and lowest indicator values; (iii) fertilization of NMF and HMF in the desert–oasis ecotone had a positive effect on soil nutrient content; however, sustainable productivity of these farmlands is low, and much ground water is consumed; and (iv) farmland (OIF) in the oasis interior had the highest values in all assessments. Our study indicates that farmland in the desert–oasis ecotone should be reclaimed prudently, using sustainable development insights.