IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecomod/v431y2020ics0304380020302349.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The carrying pressure of livestock is higher than that of large wild herbivores in Yellow River source area, China

Author

Listed:
  • Gao, Hongmei
  • Jiang, Feng
  • Chi, Xiangwen
  • Li, Guangying
  • Cai, Zhenyuan
  • Qin, Wen
  • Zhang, Jingjie
  • Wu, Tong
  • Zhang, Tongzuo

Abstract

Grassland carrying capacity and the number of livestock and wildlife play important roles in maintaining the balance of the grassland ecosystem. In this study, we assessed the grassland-livestock balance between large wild herbivores and livestock. We used the sample line transect method to conduct a survey on population and habitat area of wildlife in Sanjiangyuan National Park, China, from 2016 to 2017 and got detailed information about the population density and distribution of wildlife. The maximum entropy model (MaxEnt) was used to calculate the suitable habitat area of large wild herbivores. In addition, we used a suitable area to calculate the number of wildlife. The results showed that the suitable habitat area of Tibetan wild ass (Equus kiang) and Tibetan gazelle (Procapra picticaudata) were 14,463.7 and 15,306.3 km2, respectively, in Maduo County. The number of Tibetan wild ass and Tibetan gazelle was 12,176 and 4,231, respectively. The results indicated that the number of livestock was higher than that of wild herbivores, and overgrazing was the main cause of grassland desertification. However, the wildlife population had little effect on grasslands. The pressure index of livestock on pastures had gradually decreased in recent years. Therefore, we advise to protect the grasslands and control the number of livestock for maintaining local ecological balance and animal husbandry development.

Suggested Citation

  • Gao, Hongmei & Jiang, Feng & Chi, Xiangwen & Li, Guangying & Cai, Zhenyuan & Qin, Wen & Zhang, Jingjie & Wu, Tong & Zhang, Tongzuo, 2020. "The carrying pressure of livestock is higher than that of large wild herbivores in Yellow River source area, China," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 431(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:431:y:2020:i:c:s0304380020302349
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2020.109163
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304380020302349
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2020.109163?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fan Yang & Quanqin Shao & Xingjian Guo & Yuzhi Tang & Yuzhe Li & Dongliang Wang & Yangchun Wang & Jiangwen Fan, 2018. "Effect of Large Wild Herbivore Populations on the Forage-Livestock Balance in the Source Region of the Yellow River," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-18, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yaowen Kou & Quanzhi Yuan & Xiangshou Dong & Shujun Li & Wei Deng & Ping Ren, 2023. "Dynamic Response and Adaptation of Grassland Ecosystems in the Three-River Headwaters Region under Changing Environment: A Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-30, February.
    2. Andrew Rule & Sarah-Eve Dill & Gordy Sun & Aidan Chen & Senan Khawaja & Ingrid Li & Vincent Zhang & Scott Rozelle, 2022. "Challenges and Opportunities in Aligning Conservation with Development in China’s National Parks: A Narrative Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-24, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yaxian Zhang & Jiangwen Fan & Suizi Wang, 2020. "Assessment of Ecological Carrying Capacity and Ecological Security in China’s Typical Eco-Engineering Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-17, May.
    2. Yaowen Kou & Quanzhi Yuan & Xiangshou Dong & Shujun Li & Wei Deng & Ping Ren, 2023. "Dynamic Response and Adaptation of Grassland Ecosystems in the Three-River Headwaters Region under Changing Environment: A Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-30, February.
    3. Fan Yang & Quanqin Shao & Zhigang Jiang, 2019. "A Population Census of Large Herbivores Based on UAV and Its Effects on Grazing Pressure in the Yellow-River-Source National Park, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-20, November.
    4. Andrew Rule & Sarah-Eve Dill & Gordy Sun & Aidan Chen & Senan Khawaja & Ingrid Li & Vincent Zhang & Scott Rozelle, 2022. "Challenges and Opportunities in Aligning Conservation with Development in China’s National Parks: A Narrative Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-24, October.
    5. Hui Liu & Xiaoyu Song & Lin Qin & Wang Wen & Xiaodi Liu & Zhiqiang Hu & Yu Liu, 2020. "Improvement and Application of Key Pasture Theory for the Evaluation of Forage–Livestock Balance in the Seasonal Grazing Regions of China’s Alpine Desert Grasslands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-12, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:431:y:2020:i:c:s0304380020302349. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/ecological-modelling .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.