Abstract: We evaluated protection effects of ecological protection systems in six land use types at Wulanaodu village in the Horqin Sand Land. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used with six evaluation indices by building AHP model. The evaluation scores of the six land use types were 0.263, 0.170, 0.206, 0.169, 0.103 and 0.088 in forest land, shrub land, grass land, fixed dune, semi-fixed dune and active dune, respectively. By using the ratio of areas of different land use types to the total area as weights of evaluation score of the six land use types, the overall score of protection effect in the study area was 0.133, only 50.6% of the score in forest land. Theoretically, the score of total area could be increased to 67.2% of score of forest land by forestation and sand dune stabilization. However, the protection effects of ecological protection systems in the Horqin Sand Land were low due to influences of climate, soil and human activities. Therefore, we have a long way to go in enhancing protective effects of the various systems when we are facing a serious contradiction between ecological construction and national policies and  economic development.

Key words: aboveground biomass, airborne LiDAR, estimation, mid-subtropical forest.