This paper is an extension version of the paper presented in the 8th International Soil Sciences
Congress (ISSC), Izmir, Turkey, 15–17 May 2012.A large number of vegetation indices have been developed and widely applied in terrestrial ecosystem research in the recent decades. However, a certain limitation was
observed while applying these indices in research in dry areas due to their low sensitivity to low vegetation cover. In this context, the objectives of this study are to develop a new vegetation index, namely, the Generalized Difference Vegetation Index (GDVI), and to examine its applicability to the assessment of dryland environment.