Causes and Restoration of Degraded Alpine Grassland in Northern Tibet

藏北高寒草地退化现状、原因与恢复模式(英文)

Grassland in northern Tibet plays an important role in the eco-security of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the restoration of deserte@and degraded grassland is now a focus for governments. We used remote sensing, simulations and field surveys to analyze the current status, trends and causes of grassland degradation across northern Tibet. We develop several recovery models for degraded grassland based on field experiments in the region. We found that slightly degraded grassland covers 62% and that moderate to severely degraded grassland occupied 15.1% in the Chang Tang Plateau. The amount of degraded alpine steppe increased from 1991, and the amount of area classified as severely degraded increased sharply from 2000. The cause of degraded steppe in northwestern Tibet may be the result of warming and an arid climate; the cause of severe degradation in mid and eastern regions was mainly from overgrazing. Three restoration models are proposed for different levels of degradation： ＂enclosures＂ for slightly degraded areas, ＂enclosures with fertilization＂ for moderately degraded areas, and ＂enclosure with oversowing and fertilization＂ for severely degraded areas.

藏北高寒草地系统生态脆弱且区位重要,草地退化和沙化的治理是目前学者们重点关注的领域之一。本文采用遥感解译、模型模拟、地面取样验证等相结合的方法,分析了藏北高寒草地生态系统退化的现状、趋势和原因,以实验为基础,总结了退化草地恢复的几种重要模式。数据分析表明:藏北羌塘高原轻度退化草地占62.0%,中度和重度退化草地占15.1%,1991年以来,退化面积快速增加,2000年以来重度退化面积增加趋势明显。藏北西部的草地轻度退化可能由气候暖干化所引起,而中部、东部的重度退化主要由超载过牧引起。总结出轻度退化草地的"封育"、中度退化草地的"施肥+封育"、重度退化草地的"补播+施肥+封育"三种草地恢复模式。提出了退化草地恢复和保护的间接途径"南草北上"生态工程的战略构想。