Desertification is one of the most serious ecological problems in the Maqu alpine meadow. It is helpful to provide scientific reference for monitoring and prevention of desertification by understanding the dynamic changes of plant communities and soil surface environmental factors in different desertification stages in this area. Our study clarified the distribution pattern and vegetation changes in potential, slight, moderate, severe and extremely severe desertification stages by sample survey method and the application of variance analysis and canonical correspondence analysis. Furthermore, their relationships with the soil surface environmental factors were explored. The results showed that: (1) with the development of desertification, the soil moisture and conductivity of the soil surface decreased significantly (P<0.05). The soil temperature decreased firstly and then increased, the lowest was in the slight desertification stage (24.32 ℃) while the highest was in the severity stage (30.79 ℃). (2) The coverage and abundance of vegetation decreased significantly with the development of desertification (P<0.05). All the species richness, Shannon-Wiener index, Simpson index and Pielou index showed dynamic increases from potential to slight phase of desertification and then gradually decreased along moderate, severe, and extremely severe desertification stages. (3) The Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) showed that soil surface moisture, temperature and conductivity could explain 31.10% of species composition in communities, and the influence of soil surface water and conductivity on community composition reached extremely significant level (P<0.01). In the potential and slight desertification stages, the variance interpretation rates of the first two axes of the CCA were 71.91% and 55.25%, respectively. The soil surface environmental factors could better describe the changes of plant community characteristics and diversity levels. In the moderate, severe and extremely severe desertification stages, the variance interpretation rate of the first two axes of CCA was less than 40%. The soil surface environmental factors were difficult to effectively reflect the plant community characteristics, indicated that the impact of grazing and other human activities in the middle and late stage of the sanding succession was more prominent.