Abstract:Artemisia ordosica is undershrub species, which dominates the vegetation of the Mu Us sandy land, north China. The spatial patterns of A. odorsica populations in different sandy lands were compared with the methods of Spatial Auto-correlation Analysis, Semi-variance Analysis and Nine-Term Local Quadrat Variance (9TLQV). The results showed that, by contrast with the A. ordosica population in fixed sandy land, the population in semi-fixed sandy land was of stronger autocorrelation and greater spatial heterogeneity, and meanwhile presented more intense differentiation between patches and patch gaps. The spatial patterns of A. ordosica population in semi-fixed sandy land are probably governed by sand drifting caused by strong winds. Drifting sand can easily put A. ordosica plants to death unless they live together in form of A. ordosica patches, where the distances between plants are small. In semi-fixed sandy land, patches are not merely the form of A. ordosica population to survive drifting sand, but also the foundation of A. ordosica population to develop and broaden their area. A. ordosica population is supposed to broaden their area through edge out-extending from the patches scattering in semi-fixed sandy land. The spatial patterns of A. ordosica population in fixed sandy land are possibly affected by intra-specific competition resulting from high plant cover. This study is ecologically useful to improve the practice of vegetation restoration from sandy lands. When transplanting A. ordosica plants to bare sandy lands, we had better arrange them in form of patches separated by patch gaps lacking A. ordosica plants. If so, it is favorable to the survival of transplanted plants, and also helpful to take advantage of the abilities of A. ordosica patches to revegetate patch gaps.