To mitigate the impacts of grassland degradation on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau(QTP), in recent decades China has been implementing large-scale conservation programs and has invested about 42 billion CNY(7 billion US...To mitigate the impacts of grassland degradation on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau(QTP), in recent decades China has been implementing large-scale conservation programs and has invested about 42 billion CNY(7 billion USD). However, these programs are faced with major challenges involving trade-offs between ecological function, livestock production and income of pastoralists.Scientific assessments, as well as technical and policy issues, have not fully captured the complex ecological,social and economic dynamics of the challenges facing grassland management on the QTP. Pastoral livestock production on the QTP is characterized by imbalance in both quality and quantity between livestock seasonal nutrient requirements and herbage production, which forces pastoralists to keep larger numbers of livestock for longer periods, leading to overgrazing. To solve these problems, an integrated crop-livestock system is promoted to improve the efficiency of livestock production and conserve natural grassland as well for a sustainable system for the QTP.展开更多
Aims Ecological strategies related to the adaptation of plants to environmental stress have long been studied by ecologists,but few studies have systematically revealed the ecological process of plant adaptation to he...Aims Ecological strategies related to the adaptation of plants to environmental stress have long been studied by ecologists,but few studies have systematically revealed the ecological process of plant adaptation to herbivores as a whole.Methods In this study,Stipa breviflora,the dominant species in the desert steppe of Inner Mongolia,was used to analyse its reproductive individual characteristics and seed traits as well as the soil seed bank and spatial patterns under heavy-grazing and no-grazing treatments.Important Findings The results showed that the number of reproductive branches positively affected the number of vegetative branches.The analysis of the soil seed bank showed that the density of S.breviflora seeds beneath reproductive S.breviflora individuals was significantly higher than that in bare land.The seed density was also significantly negatively correlated with the seed characteristics and the soil seed bank in bare land.The spatial distribution of S.breviflora was aggregated under heavy grazing.Our results suggest that under heavy grazing,reproductive activity plays a key role in resource allocation.Stipa breviflora evolved the ecological strategy of nearby diffusion by regulating the morphological characteristics of the seeds,which promotes a positive spatial correlation between the juvenile and adult populations at a small scale,thus leading to the formation of‘safe islands’.展开更多
基金funded by the National Key Research and Development Program (2016YFC0501905)the Science and Technology Service Network Initiative of Chinese Academy of Sciences (KFJ-STS-ZDTP-013)
文摘To mitigate the impacts of grassland degradation on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau(QTP), in recent decades China has been implementing large-scale conservation programs and has invested about 42 billion CNY(7 billion USD). However, these programs are faced with major challenges involving trade-offs between ecological function, livestock production and income of pastoralists.Scientific assessments, as well as technical and policy issues, have not fully captured the complex ecological,social and economic dynamics of the challenges facing grassland management on the QTP. Pastoral livestock production on the QTP is characterized by imbalance in both quality and quantity between livestock seasonal nutrient requirements and herbage production, which forces pastoralists to keep larger numbers of livestock for longer periods, leading to overgrazing. To solve these problems, an integrated crop-livestock system is promoted to improve the efficiency of livestock production and conserve natural grassland as well for a sustainable system for the QTP.
基金supported by the Qinghai Provincial Key R&D Program in Qinghai Province(2019-SF-145)the Platform of the Adaptive Management of the Alpine Grassland-livestock System(2020-ZJ-T07)+1 种基金the Natural Science Foundation for Young Scientists of Qinghai Province(2018-ZJ-939Q)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31460126,3177131141).
文摘Aims Ecological strategies related to the adaptation of plants to environmental stress have long been studied by ecologists,but few studies have systematically revealed the ecological process of plant adaptation to herbivores as a whole.Methods In this study,Stipa breviflora,the dominant species in the desert steppe of Inner Mongolia,was used to analyse its reproductive individual characteristics and seed traits as well as the soil seed bank and spatial patterns under heavy-grazing and no-grazing treatments.Important Findings The results showed that the number of reproductive branches positively affected the number of vegetative branches.The analysis of the soil seed bank showed that the density of S.breviflora seeds beneath reproductive S.breviflora individuals was significantly higher than that in bare land.The seed density was also significantly negatively correlated with the seed characteristics and the soil seed bank in bare land.The spatial distribution of S.breviflora was aggregated under heavy grazing.Our results suggest that under heavy grazing,reproductive activity plays a key role in resource allocation.Stipa breviflora evolved the ecological strategy of nearby diffusion by regulating the morphological characteristics of the seeds,which promotes a positive spatial correlation between the juvenile and adult populations at a small scale,thus leading to the formation of‘safe islands’.
