Grazing intensity on the plant diversity of alpine meadow in the eastern Tibetan plateau
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 debat...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:05fd500f11b843bd869fb5296451ee52 2023-05-15T18:04:02+02:00 Grazing intensity on the plant diversity of alpine meadow in the eastern Tibetan plateau Wu Ning Liu Jian Yan Zhaoli 2004-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7557/2.24.4.1664 https://doaj.org/article/05fd500f11b843bd869fb5296451ee52 EN eng Septentrio Academic Publishing https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/1664 https://doaj.org/toc/1890-6729 doi:10.7557/2.24.4.1664 1890-6729 https://doaj.org/article/05fd500f11b843bd869fb5296451ee52 Rangifer, Vol 24, Iss 4 (2004) grazing intensity plant diversity alpine meadow Tibetan plateau biodiversity human's impact Kobresia meadow Animal culture SF1-1100 article 2004 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7557/2.24.4.1664 2022-12-31T05:21:13Z 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. Article in Journal/Newspaper Rangifer Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Rangifer 9 15 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
grazing intensity plant diversity alpine meadow Tibetan plateau biodiversity human's impact Kobresia meadow Animal culture SF1-1100 |
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grazing intensity plant diversity alpine meadow Tibetan plateau biodiversity human's impact Kobresia meadow Animal culture SF1-1100 Wu Ning Liu Jian Yan Zhaoli Grazing intensity on the plant diversity of alpine meadow in the eastern Tibetan plateau |
topic_facet |
grazing intensity plant diversity alpine meadow Tibetan plateau biodiversity human's impact Kobresia meadow Animal culture SF1-1100 |
description |
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. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wu Ning Liu Jian Yan Zhaoli |
author_facet |
Wu Ning Liu Jian Yan Zhaoli |
author_sort |
Wu Ning |
title |
Grazing intensity on the plant diversity of alpine meadow in the eastern Tibetan plateau |
title_short |
Grazing intensity on the plant diversity of alpine meadow in the eastern Tibetan plateau |
title_full |
Grazing intensity on the plant diversity of alpine meadow in the eastern Tibetan plateau |
title_fullStr |
Grazing intensity on the plant diversity of alpine meadow in the eastern Tibetan plateau |
title_full_unstemmed |
Grazing intensity on the plant diversity of alpine meadow in the eastern Tibetan plateau |
title_sort |
grazing intensity on the plant diversity of alpine meadow in the eastern tibetan plateau |
publisher |
Septentrio Academic Publishing |
publishDate |
2004 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7557/2.24.4.1664 https://doaj.org/article/05fd500f11b843bd869fb5296451ee52 |
genre |
Rangifer |
genre_facet |
Rangifer |
op_source |
Rangifer, Vol 24, Iss 4 (2004) |
op_relation |
https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/1664 https://doaj.org/toc/1890-6729 doi:10.7557/2.24.4.1664 1890-6729 https://doaj.org/article/05fd500f11b843bd869fb5296451ee52 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7557/2.24.4.1664 |
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Rangifer |
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