Based on TM images (path 127

row 036) acquired in August

1990 and May

2000 respectively

five types of landuse were classified with the support of remote sensing and GIS.Using the theory of landscape ecology and geographic information images

we made quantitative analyses of the quantity and spatial feature changes of landuse in Xi’ an region in the period of 1990 to 2000

and a series of ecology environmental effects.Landuse change/ cover in Xi’ an region can be listed as follows: Urban construction land increased sharply

while water-body

arable land

and forestland decreased apparently.Arable land and water-body were more fragmentary and interspersed than ever before.The increase in the area of urban construction land was at the cost of encroaching a wealth of arable land.Landscape became more and more fragmentized and the shape of landscape became more complex.The predominance index decreased as well.The Shannon diversity index increased from 0.90 to 1.02

while the Shannon evenness index increased from 0.48 to 0.56.It indicates that the landscape is getting more and more diversified and balanced

but poor to withstand the interference.It also indicates that human activities disturb the landscape more and more seriously.The results suggest that the trend that all the other land types translated into construction land appears much more dominantly than any others in the study region.In the meantime

the results also show that the Xi’ an City is in a fast developing stage of urbanization to a certain extent.