Abstract:The responses of vegetation variation to global climate change have become a hot issue in ecologicalresearch recently.The Erdos Plateau is located in the eco-sensitive zone of West China and its vegetation variation responding to global climate change is of great importance.We used the NOAA/AVHRR NDVI datafrom 1982to 2006and local meteorological records during corresponding time of the Erdos Plateau to analyzethe vegetation variations and its relationship with meteorological parameters.Results showed that(1)from 1982to 2006,annual mean NDVI of the Erdos Plateau increased significantly(p=0.001 7),with an increasing rate being 0.04%per year,and the mean temperature also increased significantly(p<0.001)while themean precipitation varied significantly with no clear trend(p>0.05);(2)in the Erdos Plateau,the NDVI increment was mainly contributed from the typical steppe whose seasonal average NDVI in spring,summer and autumn allincreased significantly(p<0.001);(3)in the growing season of the Erdos Plateau,the main driving factorfor the increment of NDVI was precipitation,while in the non-growing season,it was temperature.