The research of plant species diversity has a great impact on ecological construction.With the vegetation data of field survey,we studied the desert steppe community composition and structure in sandy area of Eastern Ningxia,the vertical variation of species diversity,and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) the contact between plant community distribution and soil character.The results showed that:(1)the species of desert steppe in sandy area was simple,with only 6-13 species.There was a significant difference between aboveground and coverage in different community types.The weak competitive species in community decreased,and the dominants have higher important value.(2)The species diversity index was significantly different among communities,but the variation tendency was not consistent.The correlation coefficient between diversity index and richness index,evenness index were 0.975 7 and 0.880 2,respectively,but the correlation coefficient of dominant index is -0.519 8.(3)In the analysis of CCA,the content of soil moisture,organic matter and NPK were higher.Soil bulk density lower,plant species abundance,relatively;soil moisture,soil bulk density and soil organic matter played a leading role in community distribution,the correlation coefficient are -0.742 8、0.683 8、0.532 9,respectively.Species and community both in the axis of CCA about soil factor relevance have a consistency.The results indicated that,the dessert steppe plant in sandy area of eastern Ningxia,dominants have extremely status and roles;the contribution rate of species richness to plant diversity is greater than that of evenness to plant diversity;soil moisture plays a decisive role to plant community distribution in this area.