Grass-livestock balance based grassland ecological carrying capability and sustainable strategy in the Yellow River Source National Park, Tibet Plateau, China

The Yellow River Source National Park(YRSP)is one of the most sensitive and fragile ecological regions in the world.The historical intensive grazing and climate change have resulted in ecological degradation that threatens the wildlife and livestock.Exploring the sustainable strategy is urgent for policy makers to meet the demands for wild ungulates and livestock.In our study,the grassland ecological carrying capability(GECC)was assessed based on the updated grass-livestock balance that considered the grass competition from wild ungulates.The balances between grass and livestock,and GECC and grassland pressure index(GPI)in the YRSP were measured through overlay analysis and geostatistic analysis.The results showed that:(1)the ratio of livestock to wild ungulates in the research area was approximately 4.56:1,in which the proportion of livestock was 81.75%and the actual number of livestock was 33.84×104 standard sheep units;(2)Under the scenario of minimum grazing utilisation rate,the theoretical grazing capacity and GECC were 37.83×104 standard sheep units and−0.13,respectively.Under the maximum grazing utilisation rate,the theoretical grazing capacity and GECC were 41.93×104 standard sheep units and−0.21,respectively.Since GECC in both scenarios were both less than 0,the grassland was considered to be in surplus and the livestock was not overloaded.However,GPI in the two scenarios were 0.87 and 0.79,respectively,both of which exceeded the warning line of 0.70.Based on GECC,we recommend that the sustainable strategy in YRSP is either to increase the supplementary feeding about 6.40×104 standard sheep units or reduce the grazing livestock by about 3.50×10^(4) standard sheep units.

Core Issues in Design of Tibetan Grassland Ecological Compensation Mechanism

Scientific grassland ecological compensation mechanism is favorable for improving the grassland ecological environment and promote the sustainable development of animal husbandry. Combined with actual situations of Tibet,this paper discussed core issues in the design of grassland ecological compensation mechanism,including compensation purpose,compensation subject,compensation object,compensation standard,and compensation method. It pointed out that the design of mechanism is a complex and systematic project. Each issue is complex and varied. The government at all levels should be cautious and make scientific treatment,and should not apply a single solution for all issues.

Ecological Tour of the Beautiful Hulun Buir Grassland

THEHulunBuirGrassland,the"KingdomofForageGrass,"isoneoftheworld'smostfamousgrasslands.Thenameisderivedfromthenamesoftwolakes:HulunLakeandBuirLake.HulunBuirLeaguecovers253,000squarekilometersandisinhabitedby31ethnicminoritygroups,includingMongolian,Hu...

Effects of Grassland Eco-Protection Compensation and Reward System

Grassland ecological protection compensation and reward policy is the largest-scale investment concerning themost extensive areas since foundation of the PRC. It will be the long-term implementationpolicy for grassland ecological protection. In this study,based on macro-perspective, the policy effects ofgrasslandproductivity, ecological protection, animal husbandryoutput, pastoralists＇ income were ana- lyzed. The resultsshow that, afterimplementation of the policy, naturalgrass production and grasslandtheoretical stocking rateincreased. The averagenatural grasslandlivestockoverloading ratedecreased significantly, comprehensivenationalgrasslandvegetation coverageis increasing. Besides, adult cattleandbeef yield arefluctuated. Sheep head, adult sheep, sheep production, milk productionincreasedin varying degrees. The per capita netincomeof farmers and pastoralists, livestock income, the proportion oflivestockincomewere higher than those beforeimplementation of the policy.

The Space Dissimilation of Stakeholders' Environment Cognitive and Behavior Preference Response in the Area from Returning Fazing Land to Grasslands

The cognition and attitudes of resources environment affect environmental behavior of behavior subject,the changes of attitude and behavior become one of the key factors of influencing harmonious and healthy development of ecological environment. With PRA survey method for obtaining questionnaire data and based on behavior geography and social psychology theory,farming-pastoral,dry grassland,desert grassland, typical project village alpine grassland of returning fazing land to grasslands as an example,with main body cognitive perspective of the aid of resources,the article analyzed space dissimilation of stakeholders environmental cognitive and behavior preference response in the area of returning grazing land to grasslands from ecological environment from policy environment,ecological environment and family economic environment aspects. The results showed that： stakeholders judgment of Grassland degradation in different ecological function area had obvious regularity,the cognitive proportion of Grassland degradation gradually increase from farming-pastora to alpine savanes. The satisfaction from returning grazing land to grasslands showed a changing tendency of reversed U. stakeholders had more strongly negative cognition in the area of dry steppe and desertsteppe. From farming-pastoral to alpine savanes,the economic environment tend to worse situation. Negative environmental behaviors tend to increase,Positive behavior on the contrary.

Variability of water supply affected shoot biomass and root depth distribution of four temperate grassland species in monocultures and mixtures

Aims Research on the effects of extreme rainfall events on ecosystem function has primarily focussed on drought or flooding events,which usually include changes to mean or total rainfall,annually or over a season.However,less is known about the effects of increased rainfall variability without change to mean or total amounts.We investigated the effects of increased variation of water supply on shoot and root biomass as well as the distribution of root biomass of four grassland plant species,grown in monoculture and mixture communities.Methods Perennial ryegrass(Lolium perenne L.,shallow-rooting grass),chicory(Cichorium intybus L.,deep-rooting forb),white clover(Trifolium repens L.,shallow-rooting legume)and red clover(Trifolium pratense L.,deep-rooting legume)were established in mesocosms.Four plants of the same species were grown in monoculture communities and one of each species grown in four-species communities.Water supply was manipulated such that;compared with a baseline level with low variation in water supply,there was a treatment with medium variation(±40%)and another with high variation(±80%).Shoot and root biomass were measured,and vertical root distribution models fitted.Important Findings Compared with the low variation treatment,shoot biomass was significantly reduced under high variation for white clover,red clover and four-species communities.Under all conditions,four-species communities produced more shoot and root biomass than predicted by species performance in monoculture(overyielding).Under increased water variation,chicory monocultures allocated a higher proportion of root biomass to deeper soil layers while the total root biomass of white clover monocultures was significantly reduced.These results indicate that increased variability of water supply can negatively affect the shoot and root biomass production of single and multi-species grasslands.There is a need for further investigation of water variation effects on the functioning of multi-species grassland systems at field scale.