Grassland-type ecosystem stability in China differs under the influence of drought and wet events

Ecological stability is a core issue in ecological research and holds significant implications forhumanity. The increased frequency and intensity of drought and wet climate events resulting from climatechange pose a major threat to global ecological stability. Variations in stability among different ecosystemshave been confirmed, but it remains unclear whether there are differences in stability within the sameterrestrial vegetation ecosystem under the influence of climate events in different directions and intensities.China's grassland ecosystem includes most grassland types and is a good choice for studying this issue.This study used the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index-12 (SPEI-12) to identify thedirections and intensities of different types of climate events, and based on Normalized DifferenceVegetation Index (NDVI), calculated the resistance and resilience of different grassland types for 30consecutive years from 1990 to 2019 (resistance and resilience are important indicators to measurestability). Based on a traditional regression model, standardized methods were integrated to analyze theimpacts of the intensity and duration of drought and wet events on vegetation stability. The resultsshowed that meadow steppe exhibited the highest stability, while alpine steppe and desert steppe had thelowest overall stability. The stability of typical steppe, alpine meadow, temperate meadow was at anintermediate level. Regarding the impact of the duration and intensity of climate events on vegetationecosystem stability for the same grassland type, the resilience of desert steppe during drought was mainlyaffected by the duration. In contrast, the impact of intensity was not significant. However, alpine steppewas mainly affected by intensity in wet environments, and duration had no significant impact. Ourconclusions can provide decision support for the future grassland ecosystem governance.

Effects of Enclosure on Grassland Ecological and Economic Benefits in Northern China

Grasslands in northern China serve the country as both an ecological barrier and a livestock production base.There,installing enclosures has been becoming the major grassland restoration measure adopted by many local governments.However,the effects of restoration on both ecological and production benefits of grassland remain unclear for implemented grassland restoration policies.Therefore,a representative rangeland in northern China,the Maodeng pasture in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region was selected as the study area,and remote sensing monitoring analyses were carried out to quantify the ecological benefits and economic benefits from 2015 to 2021.The results showed that:1) in terms of ecological benefits,the grassland area with a grassland coverage rate of more than 60% accounts for 32.3% of the regional area,and 86.4% of its grassland grew significantly better than the same period in2015,showing a significant improvement in grassland growth.Using the average amount of carbon per unit area as the ecological benefit evaluation index,it increased by 27.1% to 32.48Tg C/yr from 2015 to 2021.2) In terms of economic benefits,both theoretical grass production and livestock carrying capacity increased from 2015 to 2021.Compared to 2015,the theoretical grass production in 2021 increased by 24.8% to 71 900 t.The livestock carrying capacity reached 52 100 sheep units in 2021,nearly 11 000 sheep units more than that in 2015.During the study period,multiple economic indicators(on a per capita basis of permanent residents) for the pastoral area of Xilinhot City to which the Maodeng pasture belongs,have grown steadily.Per capita total income rose from 29 630 yuan(RMB) in2015 to 62 859 yuan(RMB) in 2021.Relying on grassland resources to develop the pastoral ecology also broadens the potential economic development space.Overall,the establishment of the reserve and the experiment of implanting an enclosure policy have had a significant and positive impact on Maodeng pasture’s development from both an ecological and economic perspective.With the support of scientific evidence,enclosure policy can be extended to more than 110 000 km~2 of grasslands in northern China with similar precipitation and temperature conditions,enhancing the productive and ecological potential of grasslands.The above research results will contribute to the scientific formulation of grassland pasture quality improvement plans in northern China.

Advances in Grassland Ecosystem Research in Northern Tibetan Plateau

With the aggravation of global change, the response and adaptation of the unique ecosystem in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to global change have been increasingly concerned by scientific community day by day, which makes the sensitivity and fragility of this ecosystem in response to global change widely recognized by scholars. On the basis of introducing the present research process on the degenerate mechanisim, measures of and approaches to recovery, carbon cycle and primary productivity toward global change, we put forward several propositions on studying the alpine grassland ecosystem in Northern Tibetan Plateau.

Changes in Grassland Ecosystem Service Values in the Three-River Headwaters Region,China

[Method] This study aimed to assess the changes in grassland ecosystem Service values in the Three-River Headwaters Region of China, the source of the Yangtze, Yellow （Huang He） and Lantsang （Mekong） rivers. [Method] Biophysical values of four services were monetized within the region, including water regulation, air quality regulation, climate regulation and soil conservation. [Result] The total ESVs were 884.97×10^8 Yuan, 1 302.06×10^8 Yuan and 1 299.49×10^8 Yuan in 2000, 2005 and 2008, respectively. The amount of value per unit area experienced a steep increase from 2000 to 2005（18.10×10^4 Yuan/km2）, and then remained almost unchanged from 2005 to 2008 （-0.31×10^4 Yuan/km2）. The ESV tended to decline from the southeastern to the northwestern. ESV in the eastern and central part increased faster than that in the south-central and western part of the TRHR from 2000 to 2008. It could be seen that the ecosystem condition of grassland in the TRHR improved signifi- cantly over the study period of 2000-2008. [Conelusion] The results provided good information to assess the effectiveness of current ecological protection measures in the TRHR and support regional sustainable management policies.

Research Progress of Vulnerability Assessment on Grassland Ecosystem under Climate Change

[Objective] The aim was to review on vulnerability evaluation of grassland ecosystem under climate change.[Method] In the research,vulnerability evaluation methods of ecosystem under climate changes,at home and abroad,and the related cases and research progress in China were reviewed.In addition,the future of evaluation research was predicted.[Result] Ecosystem vulnerability to climate change is an important part of climate change research.It is necessary and urgent to improve evaluation methods and reduce uncertainty of future vulnerability evaluation to make evaluation more comprehensive and objective.Furthermore,evaluation on effects of human activity on natural ecosystem vulnerability should be highlighted.[Conclusion] The research provided reference for establishment of a new management model for ecosystem adaptability to climate and sustainable development of grasslands in northern China.

Simulation Study on the Alkalized-salinized Grassland Ecosystem in the Songnen Plain

Using Object-oriented design and a new programming language JAVA, a physically-based model was built to simulate the hydrological, alkalization/de-alkalization and salinization/desalinization processes in soil. Furthermore, a process-based model was built to evaluate the dynamics of four herbaceous ecosystems (including dynamics of above-ground biomass, below-ground biomass, and litter biomass), each dominated by Aneurolepidium chinense (Trin.) Kitag., Chloris virgata Sw., Puccinellia tenuiflora (Turcz.) Scribn. et Merr. and Suaeda glauca Bunge. This model is a daily-time step model, suitable for simulating hydrological, alkalization/de-alkalization and salinization/desalinization processes of heterogeneous soil, and growth dynamics of different grassland communities. With climatic data and experimental data of Changling Experimental Site in Jilin Province, the soil moisture content (in 1991, 1996, 1997 and 1998), soil salt concentration, exchangeable cation percentage and pH in soil and growth dynamics of these four sorts of grassland communities (in 1991) were simulated and the results were verified to be in accord with observed data.

Ecological Restoration Technology and Carbon Reduction Paths of Abandoned Mines in Zoige Alpine Grassland Area

At first,the ecological restoration technology of abandoned mines is summarized,and the paths and models of mine ecological restoration in Zoige grassland area under the background of carbon neutrality are analyzed.Moreover,the problems and deficiencies in the current research on mine ecological restoration in Zoige grassland area are initially identified,and the future research trend is prospected to provide a reference for the path of carbon reduction by mine ecological restoration in Zoige grassland area and other alpine grassland areas in the future.

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.

Ecological pressures on grassland ecosystems and their conservation strategies in Northern China

In this study,we identified ecological pressures on grassland ecosystems and adaptive countermeasures in Northern China.Our research revealed that the main sources of these pressures included population growth,economic development,resources exploitation,and global climate change,with human-related activities being overriding factors.Overgrazing was an important reason for grassland imbalance,causing soil erosion and desertification,especially during the sensitive spring greening phase.In steppe zones,commercial coal mining was destructive to the ecological environment.Regarding long-term strategies,we recommend that policy-makers devote more consideration to a new conceptual approach for transforming grasslands through shifting the focus from die grassland's traditional production functions to meir ecological functions.Applying this concept,adaptive countermeasures should be developed to reduce human impacts based on the environmental capacities of grasslands.Moreover,we recommend the development of environment-friendly industries and reduction of pressures from human activities as effective measures for maintaining the balance between sustainable economic development and grassland conservation.Lastly,we suggest that restoration of degraded grasslands should conform to the principle of natural vegetation to further improve the ecological adaptability of plants and ecosystem stability.This study is expected to provide scientific support for policy-makers engaged in grassland protection.

Response of a Grassland Ecosystem to Climate Change in a Theoretical Model

The response of a grassland ecosystem to climate change is discussed within the context of a theoretical model.An optimization approach,a conditional nonlinear optimal perturbation related to parameter（CNOP-P） approach,was employed in this study.The CNOP-P,a perturbation of moisture index in the theoretical model,represents a nonlinear climate perturbation.Two kinds of linear climate perturbations were also used to study the response of the grassland ecosystem to different types of climate changes.The results show that the extent of grassland ecosystem variation caused by the CNOP-P-type climate change is greater than that caused by the two linear types of climate change.In addition,the grassland ecosystem affected by the CNOP-P-type climate change evolved into a desert ecosystem,and the two linear types of climate changes failed within a specific amplitude range when the moisture index recovered to its reference state.Therefore,the grassland ecosystem response to climate change was nonlinear.This study yielded similar results for a desert ecosystem seeded with both living and wilted biomass litter.The quantitative analysis performed in this study also accounted for the role of soil moisture in the root zone and the shading effect of wilted biomass on the grassland ecosystem through nonlinear interactions between soil and vegetation.The results of this study imply that the CNOP-P approach is a potentially effective tool for assessing the impact of nonlinear climate change on grassland ecosystems.

Degradation significantly decreased the ecosystem multifunctionality of three alpine grasslands: evidences from a large-scale survey on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Owing to the joint effects of ecosystem fragility,anthropogenic disturbance and climate change,alpine grasslands(alpine meadow,alpine steppe and alpine desert)have experienced serious degradation during the past several decades.Grasslands degradation has severely affected the delivery of ecosystem multifunctionality(EMF)and services,and then threatens the livelihood of local herdsmen and ecological security of China.However,we still lack comprehensive insights about the effects of degradation and climatic factors on EMF of alpine grasslands,especially for alpine desert ecosystem.Therefore,we applied a large-scale field investigation to answer this question.Our results suggested grassland degradation significantly decreased the belowground ecosystem multifunctionality(BEMF)and EMF of alpine grasslands and aboveground ecosystem multifunctionality(AEMF)of alpine meadow,while did not reduce the AEMF of alpine steppe and desert.Except for the insignificant difference between degraded steppe and degraded desert in AEMF,the alpine meadow showed the highest AEMF,BEMF and EMF,alpine steppe ranked the second and alpine desert was the lowest.AEMF,BEMF and EMF of health alpine grasslands were strongly affected by mean annual precipitation(MAP)(19%-51%)and mean annual temperature(MAT)(9%-36%),while those of degraded meadow and degraded desert were not impacted by precipitation and temperature.AEMF and BEMF showed a synergistic relationship in healthy alpine grasslands(12%-28%),but not in degraded grasslands.Our findings emphasized the urgency of implementing the feasible ecological restoration project to mitigate the negative influences of grassland degradation on EMF of alpine ecosystems.

Long Term Effect of Major Disturbances on the Northern Mixed Grassland Ecosystem—A Review

Grassland ecosystems in North America have been significantly altered through various disturbances from past to present. This paper has identified and examined major disturbances in the grassland ecosystems, which include grazing, fire and drought. A brief history of each disturbance is reviewed and its impact on the grassland ecosystem is discussed, by synthesizing previous research efforts available in the current literature. The paper intends to understand the grassland ecosystem from a comprehensive perspective and particularly tries to articulate the compound effect of the major disturbances in the same context instead of viewing them in isolations. It is concluded that a holistic understanding of the interaction between disturbances and plant communities is essential for sustainable grassland management, which demands comprehensive research effort in this area. The paper also points out the challenges we are facing in the current researches and suggests potential future improvement.

Effects of converting natural grasslands into planted grasslands on ecosystem respiration： a case study in Inner Mongolia, China

With increasingly intensifying degradation of natural grasslands and rapidly increasing demand of high quality forages, natural grasslands in China have been converted into planted grasslands at an unprecedented rate and the magnitude of the conversion in Inner Mongolia is among the national highest where the areal extent of planted grasslands ranks the second in China. Such land-use changes（i.e., converting natural grasslands into planted grasslands） can significantly affect carbon stocks and carbon emissions in grassland ecosystems. In this study, we analyzed the effects of converting natural grasslands into planted grasslands（including Medicago sativa, Elymus cylindricus, and M. sativa＋E. cylindricus） on ecosystem respiration（F（eco）） in Inner Mongolia of China. Diurnal F（eco） and its components（i.e., total soil respiration（F（ts））, soil heterotrophic respiration（F（sh）） and vegetation autotrophic respiration（F（va））） were measured in 2012（27 July to 5 August） and 2013（18 July to 25 July） in the natural and planted grasslands. Meteorological data, aboveground vegetation data and soil data were simultaneously collected to analyze the relationships between respiration fluxes and environmental factors in those grasslands. In 2012, the daily mean F（eco） in the M. sativa grassland was higher than that in the natural grassland, and the daily mean F（va） was higher in all planted grasslands（i.e., M. sativa, E. cylindricus, and M. sativa＋E. cylindricus） than in the natural grassland. In contrast, the daily mean F（ts） and F（sh） were lower in all planted grasslands than in the natural grassland. In 2013, the daily mean F（eco）, F（ts） and F（va） in all planted grasslands were higher than those in the natural grassland, and the daily mean F（sh） in the M. sativa＋E. cylindricus grassland was higher than that in the natural grassland. The two-year experimental results suggested that the conversion of natural grasslands into planted grasslands can generally increase the F（eco） and the increase in F（eco） is more pronounced when the plantation becomes more mature. The results also indicated that F（sh） contributed more to F（eco） in the natural grassland whereas F（va） contributed more to F（eco） in the planted grasslands. The regression analyses show that climate factors（air temperature and relative humidity） and soil properties（soil organic matter, soil temperature, and soil moisture） strongly affected respiration fluxes in all grasslands. However, our observation period was admittedly too short. To fully understand the effects of such land-use changes（i.e., converting natural grasslands into planted grasslands） on respiration fluxes, longer-term observations are badly needed.

Changes in stress within grassland ecosystems in the three counties of the source regions of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers

Based on a database of more than 40 years of second production process and energy flow records for Maduo,Qumalai and Yushu counties,a dynamic model of the stress within grassland ecosys-tems was established using a nonlinear regression method for this source regions of the Yangtze and Yel-low Rivers.The results show that dynamic curves of stress within grassland ecosystems in the three coun-ties were in the shape of an inverted 'U' during the period 1965-2007.It also revealed that the variation in actual amount of livestock inventories reflected the general trends of the stress within the grassland eco-systems in the source regions,although there were many other factors for the increase or reduction in grassland ecosystem stress.

Application of the Conditional Nonlinear Optimal Perturbations Method in a Theoretical Grassland Ecosystem

Using a simplified nonlinearly theoretical grassland ecosystem proposed by Zeng et al.,we study the sensitivity and nonlinear instability of the grassland ecosystem to finiteamplitude initial perturbations with the approach of conditional nonlinear optimal perturbation （CNOP）.The results show that the linearly stable grassland （desert or latent desert） states can turn to be nonlinearly unstable with finite amplitude initial perturbations.When the precipitation is between the two bifurcation points,a large enough finite amplitude initial perturbation can induce a transition between the grassland statethe desert state or the latent desert.

Effects of grazing and climate change on sandy grassland ecosystems in Inner Mongolia

To understand the effects of grazing activities and climate change on sandy grassland ecosystems in northem China, a livestock field grazing and enclosure experiment was conducted from 1992 to 2006 in Horqin Sand Land, Inner Mongolia. The results showed that sustained heavy grazing resulted in serious degradation of the vegetation; moderate grazing can maintain vegetation stabilization; and light grazing can promote rapid restoration of degraded vegetation. The livestock productivity was the highest in the moderate grazing grassland, and sustained heavy grazing resulted in rapid decrease of the livestock productivity. Heavy grazing can cause a retrogressive succession of grassland vegetation, whereas moderate and light grazing may promote progressive succession of plant species. The effects of changing climate on succession processes were not significant in the short term; a warm-humid climate is favorable to restoration of degraded vegetation, whereas a sustained warm-drought climate may result in degradation of grassland vegetation. Heavy livestock grazing should be stopped for the sustainable use of grassland; the proper grazing intensity for sandy grassland is two to three sheep or sheep equivalents per hectare in Inner Mongolia.

Review of the Impact of Grassland Degradation on Ecosystem Service Value

In recent years, grassland degradation has become one of China’s most critical environmental problems due to the interaction of natural environmental factors and human causes. Based on the systematic analysis of the spatial characteristics of grassland degradation and the current research status of environmental drivers, this paper summarizes and summarizes the research methods on the impact of grassland degradation on natural ecological service function and social and economic value to understand further the natural ecological service function of grassland degradation and its impact on social and economic benefits. The results show that since the function of grassland ecosystem service is much larger than the biomass value it provides, we should focus on the effective management of grassland from the design concept of ecological service function to achieve the sustainable development of grassland. We should do an excellent job in the comprehensive application of various ecosystems and service value evaluation methods in the future.

Simulation of soil erosion dynamics in grassland ecosystem of semi-arid China using the CENTURY model

Soil erosion can cause considerable effect on global natural resources and eco-environment. In the paper, the CENTURY model has been used to simulate soil erosion in Xilin Gol Grassland of Inner Mongolia. The results showed before the 1960s, the soil erosion amount was over 2 kg /m2.a in grassland ecosystem in the study area because no trees had been planted. But after the 1960s the mean annual accumulator C lost from soil organic matter due to soil erosion was only 0.3 kg /m2.a in forest ecosystem. So afforestation has exerted notable effect on decreasing soil erosion amount in Xilin Gol Grassland.

INITIAL RESEARCH INTO CLIMATIC CHANGES AND GRASSLAND DEGENERATION IN INNER MONGOLIA

Based on the variation tendency of grassland productivity, this article describes the present situation of the grassland degeneration in Inner Mongolia,. With its emphasis on two main meteorological factors (precipitation and air temperature), this article analyzes the characteristics of climatic changes in the Inner Mongolia prairie in 30 years (1970～1999) and discusses the effect of climatic factors on grassland degeneration. At the same time, this article analyzes the causes for the deterioration of grassland ecological environment from such aspects as the material flow balance within the grassland ecosystem and the effect of human activities on grassland ecosystem. The analysis shows: from the present meteorological data and grassland monitoring data, it is hard to conclude that the grassland climate is getting drier and drier and proceeds to cause the deterioration of the grassland ecosystem; animal husbandry is the main type of land use in this area, the vegetations within the ecosystem are mainly controlled by domestic animals, and the main causes for the rapid deterioration of grassland ecosystem are the malajustment of input and output of material flow (take N for example) and the seasonal imbalance of supply and demand between the grass and the domestic animals; while the climatic changes only make the deterioration of the ecosystem more serious. This article proposes that the effective measures to harness and maintain the grassland ecosystem health in this area are to increase the material input within the ecosystem, to adjust the nature production mode of grazing all through the four seasons, and to actively introduce new seeds into animal husbandry to alleviate the grazing pressure on the grassland during the sensitive spring period, etc..