围绕放牧生态系统管理的基本理论争论及其政策影响

The debate of the fundamental theory on rangeland ecology and its influence on rangeland management policy

国际学界围绕着放牧生态系统管理理论展开了长期的争论,分化出古典放牧生态学派和新放牧生态学派。前者主张“按照承载力进行草畜平衡管理”,又称为平衡性放牧生态学理论;后者主张“承载力概念无效,草畜动态由气候决定,放牧生态系统在本质上是不平衡的”,也称为非平衡性放牧生态学理论。为了实现放牧生态系统的可持续管理,前者主张草地私有化,减畜和禁牧,实现草畜平衡;而后者主张维持草地公共产权,进行社区合作,维持畜群移动性。文献计量分析表明新放牧生态学派占据了统治地位。然而,大量实证研究表明放牧生态系统的非平衡性和平衡性是广泛共存的,而且二者的结合具有高度的时空异质性。因此,两个理论都有可取的和片面的要素,由此形成了“非平衡和平衡性共存”的新观点,可视为古典放牧生态学派的新发展。上述学术争论也波及我国的放牧地管理政策,但是按照上述理论进展,我国放牧管理政策不需要颠覆性重构,而是需要渐进调整。未来放牧生态系统管理需要重视该领域的最新理论进展,重视气候波动性,实现草畜的动态平衡,并维持畜群的移动性。同时,政策制定者要与时俱进和因地制宜的设计管理政策,避免“一刀切”推行单一的产权制度和管理政策。

The ongoing debate surrounding the management of rangeland ecosystems has given rise to two distinct schools of theories:classical rangeland ecology and new rangeland ecology.The former advocates for“the balance of forage biomass and livestock loads according to carrying capacity of grassland,”also known as equilibrium rangeland ecology.The latter argues that“the concept of carrying capacity is invalid,the dynamics of forage biomass and livestock population are determined by climate variability,and the rangeland ecosystem is fundamentally non⁃equilibrium,”referred to as non⁃equilibrium rangeland ecology.To achieve sustainable management of rangeland ecosystems,proponents of the classical rangeland theory advocate for privatizing property rights of rangelands and reducing livestock numbers to maintain a balance between forage biomass and livestock loads.Meanwhile,supporters of the new rangeland theory advocate maintaining public property rights over rangelands,promoting community cooperation,and preserving livestock mobility.Bibliometric analyses indicated that the new rangeland ecologists had dominated the academic publishing in this study field,according to their overwhelming advantages in H⁃index,total citation,and citation of representative papers.However,numerous empirical studies have demonstrated that both equilibrium and non⁃equilibrium conditions coexist in all rangeland ecosystems,resulting in high heterogeneity on spatiotemporal scales.As such,it is evident that both theories possess elements that are valid as well as flawed.Consequently,a novel concept has updated the theory of classic rangeland ecology,which advocated the coexistence of non⁃equilibrium and equilibrium.This debate had profoundly influenced the understanding about Chinese rangeland policies.These policies were primarily grounded in classic rangeland ecology,thus have suffered a lot of harsh criticism from the advocates of the new rangeland ecology.New rangeland ecologists had negated these policies,which aimed to achieve the balancing between forage biomass and livestock loads based on the concept of ecological carrying capacity.Alternatively,they highlighted the important roles of livestock mobility and community cooperation in rangeland sustainable management.Therefore,some new rangeland ecologists propose some transformative reforms in rangeland management,such as reconstruction of public grassland use rights and removal of household fence.However,based the recent advances of this debate,China should not reconfigure these policies in a disruptive way.Future rangeland management strategies must take into account climate variability while striving to achieve a dynamic balance between forage biomass and livestock loads.It is also crucial to preserve livestock mobility.Additionally,policymakers should carefully tailor their approaches based on a comprehensive understanding of local conditions rather than implementing a“one size fits all”model when it comes to property rights and management policies.