To explore the distribution pattern and influencing factors of plant communities in the desert zone of the Aksu River basin’s landscape engeneering area， this study used field survey results as the research object. The TWINSPAN method was used for quantitative classification of communities， and the CCA （canonical correspondence analysis） method was emplyed to screen significant influencing factors. The structural equation modeling was used to investigate the interactive relationship between the distribution patterns of plant communities and environmental variables. The results showed that the TWINSPAN hierarchical classification classified the 30 survey locations into 6 association types. The Simpson and Shannon-Wiener diversity indices showed that association II and III had the highest values， while association I and V had the lowest. The Mrgalef richness index showed that association II had the highest value， which was significantly higher than association V by 1.02 times （P<0.05）. The Pielou index showed that association IV had the highest value， with relatively uniform distribution. The similarity of each community type was highest between association I and II， with the highest Jaccard’s index and Sorenson’s index values of 0.478 and 0.393. CCA ranking results indicated that the primary environmental factors influencing community distribution patterns were multi-year average precipitation， elevation， soil organic matter， and soil bulk density （P<0.001）. Further analysis of the interaction between environmental factors and association distribution patterns revealed that topographic factors， consisting of elevation and slope， had the greatest influence， with a total effect size of 0.852. These factors significantly influenced meteorological and soil factors such as annual average precipitation， evaporation， and soil organic matter， thereby influencing association spatial distribution patterns. This research provides a scientific theoretical foundation and empirical support for setting ecological restoration targets， vegetation selection， and measurement formulation for the Aksu River Basin landscape engineering project.

Aksu River basin  /  Mountain-water Project  /  Species diversity  /  Distribution pattern  /  Numerical classification  /  Ordination analysis  /  Structural equation modeling