Effect of fencing, artificial seeding and abandonment on vegetation composition and dynamics of ‘black soil land’ in the headwaters of the Yangtze and the Yellow Rivers of the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau

Shang, Zhanhuan; S., Y.; Long, R. J.; Ding, Luming

doi:10.1002/ldr.861

Cited by 105 publications

(99 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The findings reveal a possible trade-off between carbon sequestration and diversity maintenance in China's grasslands. Therefore, we proposed that short-term grazing exclusion is essential and important for restoring degraded grasslands (Su et al, 2005;Shang et al, 2008;Liu et al, 2014). Longterm grazing exclusion may not be a good management option according to our results, for the following reasons.…”

Section: Implications For Sustainable Grassland Management Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…Excessive grazing and trampling by domestic animals may inhibit plant reproduction and regeneration, and resulting in the loss of some associated species in overgrazed grasslands (Sternberg et al, 2000;Firincioglu et al, 2007). Therefore, removing grazing pressure would facilitate the growth of suppressed species and increase species richness at the early stage of grazing exclusion (Luno et al, 1997;Shang et al, 2008). However, along with vegetation succession proceeding, the long-term absence of disturbance led to the preponderance of dominant species over time.…”

Section: Effects Of Grazing Exclusion On Plant Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For plant diversity, the results are also conflicting. Several studies reported no effects of grazing exclusion on plant diversity (Milchunas and Lauenroth, 1993;Meissner and Facelli, 1999), while a number of studies reported increases (Shaltout et al,1996;Eweg et al, 1998;Shang et al, 2008;Mayer et al, 2009;Jeddi and Chaieb, 2010;Zhao et al, 2011), and others reported decreases (Proulx and Mazumder, 1998;Dullinger et al, 2003;Altesor et al, 2005;Peco et al, 2005Peco et al, , 2006Wu et al, 2009), in plant diversity in response to grazing exclusion. Generally, the effectiveness of grazing exclusion denpends on its duration (Milchunas and Lauenroth, 1993;Su et al, 2005;Wu et al, 2008;McSherry and Ritchie, 2013), environmental conditions (Conant and Paustian, 2002;Derner and Schuman, 2007;Piñeiro et al, 2010; J.S.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of grazing exclusion on carbon sequestration and plant diversity in grasslands of China—A meta-analysis

Xiong

Shi

Zhang

et al. 2016

Ecological Engineering

163

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a b s t r a c tWidespread land degradation has strengthened the urgent need to restore overgrazing grasslands. China has implemented the program 'Returning Grazing Land to Grassland' (RGLG) through grazing exclusion by fence since 2003. Despite a lot of field experiments, there is still controversy on the effects of grazing exclusion on rangeland restoration, highlighting the need for synthetic analysis. We conducted a metaanalysis of 447 entries from 78 papers to analyze the spatiotemporal effects of grazing exclusion on plant diversity, productivity and soil carbon sequestration in the major RGLG-implemented provinces of China. Our results showed that, compared with the grazed sites, grazing exclusion significantly increased carbon stored in aboveground biomass, litter mass, belowground biomass and soils by 84.7%, 111.6%, 25.5% and 14.4%, respectively. Plant coverage, soil available nitrogen, soil available phosphorus and soil microbial biomass carbon increased by 52.0%, 21.7% 22.8% and 26.3%, respectively. However, grazing exclusion had little effects on recovering plant diversity in China's grasslands. Of the factors examined, climatic factors strongly modified the effects of grazing exclusion on ecosystem carbon stocks, for example, precipitation significantly amplified the positive effects. Grazing exclusion played a positive role in soil carbon sequestration in most grassland types except in temperate desert-steppe. But annual soil carbon sequestration rates decayed rapidly over time in both alpine meadow and temperate steppe. Short-term (≤5 years) grazing exclusion remarkably increased species richness, but not significantly in the long run. The threshold from neutral to negative effects of grazing exclusion on species evenness occurs after approximately ten years. Our findings provide evidence that grazing exclusion is an effective way to restore vegetation and sequestrate carbon in degraded grasslands, but not beneficial to plant diversity maintenance. The benefits of grazing exclusion are more effective in humid area than arid area. We suggest that grazing exclusion should be ceased after about six to ten years. Additionally, grazing exclusion should integrate with other appropriate management practices instead of operating on a stand-alone basis.

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Section: Implications For Sustainable Grassland Management Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Effects Of Grazing Exclusion On Plant Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of grazing exclusion on carbon sequestration and plant diversity in grasslands of China—A meta-analysis

Xiong

Shi

Zhang

et al. 2016

Ecological Engineering

163

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“…It was reported that heavily and severely degraded grassland (called the "black beach") represented approximately 34 and 8 %, respectively, of the grassland area in the headwaters region (Ma et al 2006;Shang et al 2008;Wang et al 2009). Despite numerous efforts to protect the grassland resource in this area, grassland degradation is continuing due to overgrazing, overexploitation of medicinal plants, destruction by rodents, and climatic warming and drought (Zhou et al 2005;Wang and Fu 2004;Gao et al 2009;Feng et al 2010;Wang et al 2008Wang et al , 2011bLi et al 2011a, b;Xu et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of grassland degradation on plant diversity, primary productivity, and soil fertility in the alpine region of Asia’s headwaters

Wang

Dong

Yang

et al. 2014

Environ Monit Assess

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A 3-year survey was conducted to explore the relationships among plant composition, productivity, and soil fertility characterizing four different degradation stages of an alpine meadow in the source region of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, China. Results showed that plant species diversity, productivity, and soil fertility of the top 30-cm soil layer significantly declined with degradation stages of alpine meadow over the study period. The productivity of forbs significantly increased with degradation stages, and the soil potassium stock was not affected by grassland degradation. The vegetation composition gradually shifted from perennial graminoids (grasses and sedges) to annual forbs along the degradation gradient. The abrupt change of response in plant diversity, plant productivity, and soil nutrients was demonstrated after heavy grassland degradation. Moreover, degradation can indicate plant species diversity and productivity through changing soil fertility. However, the clear relationships are difficult to establish. In conclusion, degradation influenced ecosystem function and services, such as plant species diversity, productivity, and soil carbon and nitrogen stocks.Additionally, both plant species diversity and soil nutrients were important predictors in different degradation stages of alpine meadows. To this end, heavy degradation grade was shown to cause shift of plant community in alpine meadow, which provided an important basis for sustaining ecosystem function, manipulating the vegetation composition of the area and restoring the degraded alpine grassland.

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“…Frequently, researchers have described pastures according to the extent to which they have become degraded, such as slightly, moderately, severely, or extremely degraded (Liu et al 2004b;Yuan and Zhou 2004;Zhou et al 2005;Ma 2007;Liu and Dong 2008), in order to ascribe restorative programs appropriate to the degree of degradation (Shang et al 2013), and an overall reduction in herbage mass and feeding value of herbage (Shang and Long 2007;Shang et al 2008Shang et al , 2013Gao et al , 2010Li et al 2013aLi et al , 2013bWen et al 2013). With changes in species composition, sward structure deteriorates and areas of bare soil increase, leading eventually to loss of soil structure and the possibility of soil erosion, all of which creates considerable challenges for grassland restoration .…”

Section: Restoration Of Degraded Grassland (A)mentioning

confidence: 99%

The sustainable development of grassland-livestock systems on the Tibetan plateau: problems, strategies and prospects

Gibb²,

et al. 2014

Self Cite

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Abstract. The Tibetan plateau is the source of most of the major rivers of Asia and has a huge impact on the livelihoods of the population, who have for centuries engaged in traditional herding practices. Sustainable management of the plateau is of critical importance not only for maintaining livelihoods but also because of its vital ecological function. The major problem of sustainable development in these grassland-livestock systems is the conflict between forage and livestock production. Despite considerable investment of manpower, material resources and capital over many years, attempts to resolve the problem have not been successful. The magnitude of conflict between forage and livestock is addressed by presenting 19 resolution strategies based on numerous research data. Each of these strategies is evaluated in terms of how it can be implemented, its potential benefits for livestock production, current progress and the requirement for further research. The 19 strategies have been divided into four topic categories, namely; grassland-forage, livestock, economy and market, societyculture, which cover the basic elements of sustainable development in this pastoral region. It is argued that improved planning and implementation of the proposed strategies must be based on the background investigation of natural and social status of the pastoral region. Particular attention needs to be given to genetic resources and technology in order to ensure the successful implementation of these proposals. In addition to expanding the use of 18 currently practiced strategies, the authors propose a further novel strategy of replacing the current intensive form of ecological migration with a model incorporating two semipermanent settlements. The objective of this novel strategy is to retain the nomadic element of pastoral husbandry while increasing the temporal and spatial scale of rotational stocking to reduce pasture degradation on the Tibetan plateau. It is argued that these proposals should be urgently incorporated into two national plans for the pastoral livestock industry, and the construction of an ecologically safe shelter zone on the Tibetan plateau, while ensuring a sustainable livelihood of its pastoral residents. Ensuring a successful implementation of these strategies in resolving the conflict between grassland and livestock, and promoting sustainable development on the Tibetan plateau, requires willing support at the level of national investment and policy commitment and from the herdsmen.

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Effect of fencing, artificial seeding and abandonment on vegetation composition and dynamics of ‘black soil land’ in the headwaters of the Yangtze and the Yellow Rivers of the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau

Cited by 105 publications

References 20 publications

Effects of grazing exclusion on carbon sequestration and plant diversity in grasslands of China—A meta-analysis

Effects of grazing exclusion on carbon sequestration and plant diversity in grasslands of China—A meta-analysis

The effects of grassland degradation on plant diversity, primary productivity, and soil fertility in the alpine region of Asia’s headwaters

The sustainable development of grassland-livestock systems on the Tibetan plateau: problems, strategies and prospects

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