scholarly journals Grazing intensity on the plant diversity of alpine meadow in the eastern Tibetan plateau

Rangifer ◽  
2004 ◽  
pp. 9-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wu Ning ◽  
Liu Jian ◽  
Yan Zhaoli
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Alpine Meadow ◽  
Grazing Intensity ◽  
Eastern Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Rangeland Degradation ◽  
Biodiversity Index ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Kobresia Pygmaea

Because ofthe remoteness and harsh conditions of the high-altitude rangelands on the eastern Tibetan Plateau, the relationship between yak grazing and plant diversity has not been so clear although livestock increase was thought as the main issue leading to the degradation of rangeland. In the debate of rangeland degradation, biodiversity loss has been assumed as one of the indicators in the last two decades. In this paper authors measured the effects of different grazing intensities on the plant diversity and the structure of Kobresia pygmaea community in the case-study area, northwestern Sichuan. The results indicated that plant diversity of alpine meadow has different changing trends respectively with the change of grazing intensity and seasons. In June the highest plant diversity occurred in the intensively grazed (HG) plots, but in July and September species biodiversity index of slightly grazed (LG) plots is higher than other experimental treatments. In August the intermediate grazed (IG) plots has the highest biodiversity index. Moreover, it was found that intensively grazing always leads to the increase of plant density, but meanwhile the decrease of community height, coverage and biomass. Over-grazing can change the community structure and lead to the succession from Kobresia pygmaea dominated community to Poa pratensis dominated. Analyzing results comprehensively, it can be suggested that the relationship between grazing intensity and plant diversity is not linear, i.e. diversity index is not as good as other characteristics of community structure to evaluate rangeland degradation on the high altitude situation. The change of biodiversity is so complicated that it can not be explained with the simple corresponding causality.

Effects of grazing and climate warming on plant diversity, productivity and living state in the alpine rangelands and cultivated grasslands of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Zhang ◽  
Qingzhu Gao ◽  
Shikui Dong ◽  
Shiliang Liu ◽  
Xuexia Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Climate Warming ◽  
Alpine Meadow ◽  
Vegetation Type ◽  
Vegetation Height ◽  
Rangeland Degradation ◽  
Alpine Steppe ◽  
Forage Species ◽  
Living State

Overgrazing and climate warming may be important drivers of alpine rangeland degradation in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). In this study, the effects of grazing and experimental warming on the vegetation of cultivated grasslands, alpine steppe and alpine meadows on the QTP were investigated. The three treatments were a control, a warming treatment and a grazing treatment and were replicated three times on each vegetation type. The warming treatment was applied using fibreglass open-top chambers and the grazing treatment was continuous grazing by yaks at a moderately high stocking rate. Both grazing and warming negatively affected vegetation cover. Grazing reduced vegetation height while warming increased vegetation height. Grazing increased but warming reduced plant diversity. Grazing decreased and warming increased the aboveground plant biomass. Grazing increased the preferred forage species in native rangelands (alpine steppe and alpine meadow), while warming increased the preferred forage species in the cultivated grassland. Grazing reduced the vegetation living state (VLS) of all three alpine grasslands by nearly 70%, while warming reduced the VLS of the cultivated grassland and the alpine steppe by 32% and 56%, respectively, and promoted the VLS of the alpine meadow by 20.5%. It was concluded that overgrazing was the main driver of change to the alpine grassland vegetation on the QTP. The findings suggest that grazing regimes should be adapted in order for them to be sustainable in a warmer future.

Grazing alters environmental control mechanisms of evapotranspiration in an alpine meadow of the Tibetan Plateau

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 834-845
Author(s):  
Tingting An ◽  
Mingjie Xu ◽  
Tao Zhang ◽  
Chengqun Yu ◽  
Yingge Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Alpine Meadow ◽  
Environmental Control ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Limiting Factor ◽  
Peak Time ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Water Conditions

Abstract Aims Evapotranspiration (ET) is an important component of the terrestrial water cycle and is easily affected by external disturbances, such as climate change and grazing. Identifying ET responses to grazing is instructive for determining grazing activity and informative for understanding the water cycle. Methods This study utilized 2 years (2014 and 2017) of eddy covariance data to test how grazing regulated ET for an alpine meadow ecosystem on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) by path analysis. Important Findings Radiation dominated ET with a decision coefficient of 64–74%. The soil water content (SWC) worked as the limiting factor in the fenced site. However, in the grazing site, the limiting factor was the vapor pressure deficit (VPD). Grazing had large effects on ET because it greatly affected the water conditions. The SWC and VPD were enhanced by 14.63% and 4.36% in the grazing site, respectively. Therefore, sufficient water was supplied to ET, especially during drought, and strengthened the transpiration pull. As a result, a favorable micrometeorological environment was created for ET. Grazing shifted the limiting factor of ET from the SWC to VPD, which weakened the limiting effect of the water conditions on ET and advanced the ET peak time. In addition, grazing altered the compositions of ET by changing the community structure, which directly resulted in an increased ET. In summary, grazing enhanced ET through altering the community structure and micrometeorological environments. The findings of this study further improve our understanding of the driving mechanisms of grazing on ET and will improve our predictions for the global water cycle.

Plant–soil feedbacks in a sub-alpine meadow ecosystem with high plant diversity on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Plant Ecology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 216 (12) ◽  
pp. 1659-1674
Author(s):  
Jin Hua Li ◽  
Hua Zhang ◽  
Wen Jin Li ◽  
Johannes M. H. Knops
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Alpine Meadow ◽  
Plant Soil

The effect of plateau pika(Ochotona curzoniae)disturbance on the relationship between plant diversity and soil nutrients of alpine meadow

2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (17) ◽  
Author(s):  
王莹 WANG Ying ◽  
庞晓攀 PANG Xiaopan ◽  
肖玉 XIAO Yu ◽  
贾婷婷 JIA Tingting ◽  
王倩 Wang Qian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Nutrients ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Alpine Meadow ◽  
Plateau Pika ◽  
Ochotona Curzoniae ◽  
The Relationship
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