Investigation of spatial distribution of aboveground biomass of grassland in desert and desertified regions is essential to evaluate carbon storage in northern China. Furthermore, it is important to understand potential development of husbandry, status of biodiversity, and ecosystem stability in regional scale. In this research, spatial characteristics of grassland aboveground biomass were studied based on data from 144 sites in desert and desertified regions of northern China. In addition, the researchers analyzed the relationships of aboveground biomass with environmental parameters such as precipitation and temperature. The results show that spatial distribution of grassland aboveground biomass is highly heterogeneous in desert and desertified regions of northern China. Aboveground biomass ranges from 5.5~371.2 g·m-2, with an average of 83.3 g·m-2. Aboveground biomass is significantly negatively correlated with latitude (P<0.05) and is positively correlated with longitude (P<0.001). This means that aboveground biomass decreased with latitude increasing but increased with longitude increasing. Correlation analysis shows that aboveground biomass is significantly correlated with annual precipitation, but is weakly correlated with annual mean temperature and altitude. This implies that rainfall drives the spatial distribution pattern of aboveground biomass in desert and desertified regions of northern China.

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