草原与草地的概念辨析及规范使用刍议

Views on distinguishing the concepts of rangeland and grassland and proposing proper use of their terminology

草原与草地是多个学科和部门广泛使用的名词术语,但因不同领域的使用者对其内涵的界定不同,在使用过程中造成分歧、交叉、重叠等诸多问题。为了明确不同语境中草原与草地概念的内涵和外延,科学使用草原、草地及其相关名词术语,本文在全面、系统总结草原与草地名词术语相关文献资料的基础上,梳理不同国家(地区)、不同领域中草原与草地的内涵,阐明不同历史时期、不同学科发展阶段草原与草地名词术语的变化,提出不同语境中正确使用草原与草地名词术语的规范建议,以期消除学术界、管理界和大众使用草原与草地名词术语过程中产生的歧义,为草原资源和生态保护、利用、管理的科学技术和政策措施的合理实施提供科学参考。通过系统总结分析,得出如下结论:草原和草地的概念有广义和狭义之分,广义的定义主要为国际的农学和植被学定义以及国内的农学和法律定义,可以概括为草原和草地是同义词,主要指生长草本植物或兼有灌木和稀疏乔木,可以为家畜和野生动物提供食物和生产场所,并可为人类提供优良生活环境及许多生物产品,是多功能的土地-生物资源和草业生产基地,该定义广泛应用于林草和农业行业的政府文件、中外科技文献、教材课程等领域,具体使用时泛称“草原”或“草地”;狭义的定义主要为国内植被学范畴的草原定义和土地类型学范畴的草地定义,植被学范畴内的草原主要用于植被分类,其定义为半干旱半湿润区的地带性植被,由旱生多年生草本植物为主(有时为旱生的小半灌木)组成的植物群落,该定义主要用于植物地理学或植被学等学术领域,具体使用时应称其为“草原植被”;狭义的土地类型学范畴的草地定义为一种土地利用类型,是生长草本植物为主的土地,该定义主要用于国土(自然资源)部门的土地利用分类,具体使用时应称为“草地地类”。从这些定义的使用规范来看,国土三调的草地地类范围之外,还有一大部分需要纳入草原(草地)范畴的土地-生物资源,这正是国土三调公布的草地面积与农林草部门公认的草原(草地)面积存在较大差异的原因所在。

Rangeland and grassland are two key terms used in multiple disciplines and departments. However, there are confusion, overlap and crisscross in the use of these two terms due to their chaotic connotation and denotation defined by various disciplines and departments. In order to clarify the connotation and denotation of rangeland and grassland in different contexts of disciplines and departments, and to enhance their proper use in practice, I collected diverse and rich references and information in rangeland and grassland terminology, summarized the connotation and denotation of rangeland and grassland defined in various countries and disciplines, clarified the terminology changes of rangeland and grassland across different time and disciplines. Finally, I proposed proper use of those two terms to mitigate the confusion, overlap and crisscross and to provide a scientific basis for rational protection and utilization of grassland resource and ecosystems. The conclusions are based on the comprehensive analysis. There are broad and narrow definitions of rangeland and grassland. The broad definitions are derived from the international subjects of agriculture and vegetation as well as national subjects of agriculture and law, in which rangeland and grassland can be regarded as the synonym referring to the land-biology resources with multiple functions and production base for pratacultural industry, where herbaceous species dominate the vegetation with some shrubs and sparse trees used as the habitats or foods for livestock and wildlife, as well as good living environments and biological products for the human beings. These terms have been generally used as “rangeland” or “grassland” in the official documents of forestry, grassland, and agriculture departments, foreign and domestic literatures, textbooks, courses, etc. The narrow definitions are derived from the national subjects of vegetation science and land types. In the subject of vegetation science, it is defined as the zonal vegetation distributed in semi-arid and semi-humid areas with the perennial xerophytes as dominant plants(occasionally with some small sub-shrubs) in the community. The term is normally applied for vegetation classification and should be generally used as “steppe or grassland vegetation”(e.g., temperate grassland vegetation or steppe vegetation). In the subject of land types, it is defined as one of the land use types, dominated by herbaceous species. This term is normally used for land use classification by land resource(natural resources) department and should be generally used as “land type of grassland”.