Abstract: Taking Peacock River bed with serious Populus euphratica decline as the study area, we interpreted aerial images (0.2 m resolution) acquired in July 2016 and UAV aerial images (0.07 m resolution) acquired in August 2017 combining field investigation and plotting. According to the growth state, we divided Populus euphratica into growing well, decay and wither. The results showed that the distribution of Populus euphratica is intensive but serious decline in the study area and the growth trend of Populus euphratica has little change between 2016 and 2017. Secondly, Populus euphratica with well growing state account for 15.87% in the study area, and distribute in the near region of human activities, such as periphery of cultivated land. In addition, the mortality rate of Populus euphratica is 61.63%, and 22.46% of Populus euphratica is endangered, which can be turned into well growth state with timely water recovery.

Key words: Populus euphratica, growth state, aerial photography, quantitative