Response of Vegetation and Soil Characteristics to Grazing Disturbance in Mountain Meadows and Temperate Typical Steppe in the Arid Regions of Central Asian, Xinjiang

Xu Bi, Bo Li, Xiangchao Xu and Lixin Zhang
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Xu Bi: College of Resources and Environment, Shanxi University of Finance and Economics, Taiyuan 030006, China
Bo Li: Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Xiangchao Xu: Institute of Science & Technology Information of Shanxi, Taiyuan 030024, China
Lixin Zhang: College of Urban and Environmental Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 12, 1-16

Abstract: Grazing is one of the most common causes of grassland degradation, therefore, an assessment of soil physicochemical properties and plant nutrients under grazing is important for understanding its influences on ecosystem nutrient cycling and for formulating appropriate management strategies. However, the effects of grazing on grassland soil physicochemical properties and plant nutrients in mountain meadow and temperate typical steppe in the arid regions are still unclear. Therefore, we investigated the vegetation nutrient concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (N, P, and K) as well as soil physicochemical properties in the topmost 40 cm depth soil, to evaluate how these factors respond to grazing disturbance in a mountain meadow and temperate typical steppe within a mountain basin system in arid regions. Our results revealed that the soil bulk density values at depth of 0–40 cm increased after grazing in the mountain meadow and temperate typical steppe, whereas the soil water content decreased in the mountain meadow and increased in the temperate typical steppe after grazing. In the mountain meadow, soil total N and available P in addition to vegetation N and P concentrations increased in response to high-intensity grazing, while soil available N, available K and vegetation K decreased after grazing; in addition, soil pH, soil total P and K showed no significant changes. In the temperate typical steppe, the soil total P, soil available N, P, and K, and vegetation N, P, and K increased under relatively low-intensity grazing, whereas soil pH and soil total K showed no significant changes except for the deceasing soil total N. Our findings showed the different responses of different grassland ecosystems to grazing. Moreover, we propose that further related studies are necessary to better understand the effects of grazing on grassland ecosystems, and thereby provide a theoretical basis for the sustainable use of animal husbandry and ecological restoration of grasslands.

Keywords: grazing; mountain meadow; temperate typical steppe; soil physicochemical properties; vegetation nutrients (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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