IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i12p4753-d190225.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of Different Grazing Systems on Aboveground Biomass and Plant Species Dominance in Typical Chinese and Mongolian Steppes

Author

Listed:
  • Yintai Na

    (Resources and Environment Economy College, Inner Mongolia University of Finance and Economics, No.185, North Two Ring Road, Hohhot 010070, China
    Planning and Geographic Information System Laboratory, Inner Mongolia University of Finance and Economics, No.185, North Two Ring Road, Hohhot 010070, China)

  • Jinxia Li

    (Department of Resources and Environment, Baotou Teachers’ College, Baotou 014030, China)

  • Buho Hoshino

    (Department of Environmental Symbiotic College of Agriculture, Rakuno Gakuen University, 582, Bunkyodai-Midorimachi, Ebetsu, Hokkaido 069-8501, Japan)

  • Saixialt Bao

    (College of Geographical Sciences, Inner Mongolia Normal University, No. 81, Zhao Wuda Road, Hohhot 010022, China)

  • Fuying Qin

    (College of Geographical Sciences, Inner Mongolia Normal University, No. 81, Zhao Wuda Road, Hohhot 010022, China)

  • Purevtseren Myagmartseren

    (Department of Geography, School of Arts and Sciences, National University of Mongolia, University street 1, Ulaanbaatar 14200, Mongolia)

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of different grazing systems on plant communities, and examined the causes of Mongolian grassland desertification. The typical steppes near the Chinese-Mongolian border were studied using quadrat sampling and remote sensing methods. Aboveground biomass in the steppe areas differed significantly among the three grazing systems ( p < 0.05): Biomass in the grazing-prohibited areas (455.9 g) was greater than that in the rotational-grazing areas (268.4 g) and the continuous grazing areas (122.2 g). Aboveground biomass was well correlated with the Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI; y = 5600x 2 + 260x + 110; R 2 = 0.67; p < 0.05). The relative mean deviation between the aboveground biomass was calculated using this regression and the measured biomass was 29.1%. The Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) values for nomadic-grazing areas were greater than those for continuous-grazing areas in 1989, 2005, 2011, and 2016, and were significantly greater in 2011 and 2016. The SAVI values for the continuous-grazing areas were slightly, but not significantly greater, than those for the nomadic-grazing areas in 1993. Plant species that dominated in moderately degraded areas were most dominant in nomadic-grazing areas, followed by continuous-grazing areas and grazing-prohibited areas. Plant species that dominated in lightly and heavily degraded areas were most dominant in continuous-grazing areas, followed by nomadic-grazing areas and grazing-prohibited areas. Generally, continuous grazing caused more serious grassland degradation than did nomadic grazing, and nomadic-grazing areas tolerated more intense grazing than did continuous-grazing areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Yintai Na & Jinxia Li & Buho Hoshino & Saixialt Bao & Fuying Qin & Purevtseren Myagmartseren, 2018. "Effects of Different Grazing Systems on Aboveground Biomass and Plant Species Dominance in Typical Chinese and Mongolian Steppes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-14, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:12:p:4753-:d:190225
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/12/4753/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/12/4753/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhang, MunkhDalai A. & Borjigin, Elles & Zhang, Huiping, 2007. "Mongolian nomadic culture and ecological culture: On the ecological reconstruction in the agro-pastoral mosaic zone in Northern China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 19-26, April.
    2. Yintai Na & Saixiyalt Bao & Kanji Hashimoto & Christopher McCarthy & Buho Hoshino, 2018. "The Effects of Grazing Systems on Plant Communities in Steppe Lands—A Case Study from Mongolia’s Pastoralists and Inner Mongolian Settlement Areas," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-10, 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. Wen Wang & Huamin Liu & Jinghui Zhang & Zhiyong Li & Lixin Wang & Zheng Wang & Yantao Wu & Yang Wang & Cunzhu Liang, 2020. "Effect of Grazing Types on Community-Weighted Mean Functional Traits and Ecosystem Functions on Inner Mongolian Steppe, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-15, September.
    2. Chunjiang An & Mengfan Cai & Christophe Guy, 2020. "Rural Sustainable Environmental Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-5, August.

    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. Jiang, Lu & Xue, Bing & Xing, Ran & Chen, Xingpeng & Song, Lan & Wang, Yutao & Coffman, D’Maris & Mi, Zhifu, 2020. "Rural household energy consumption of farmers and herders in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    2. Xinwen Lin & Angathevar Baskaran & Yajie Zhang, 2023. "Watershed Horizontal Ecological Compensation Policy and Green Ecological City Development: Spatial and Mechanism Assessment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-21, February.
    3. Troy Sternberg, 2014. "Transboundary hazard risk: the Gobi desert paradigm," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 72(2), pages 533-548, June.
    4. Bliss, Sam & Egler, Megan, 2020. "Ecological Economics Beyond Markets," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    5. Lena Huldén & Ross McKitrick & Larry Huldén, 2014. "Average household size and the eradication of malaria," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 177(3), pages 725-742, June.
    6. Xianwei Liu & Yang Zou & Jianping Wu, 2018. "Factors Influencing Public-Sphere Pro-Environmental Behavior among Mongolian College Students: A Test of Value–Belief–Norm Theory," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-19, May.
    7. Xiangzheng Deng & Chunhong Zhao & Yingzhi Lin & Tao Zhang & Yi Qu & Fan Zhang & Zhan Wang & Feng Wu, 2014. "Downscaling the Impacts of Large-Scale LUCC on Surface Temperature along with IPCC RCPs: A Global Perspective," Energies, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-20, April.
    8. Yiming Liu & Sunhee Suk, 2021. "Coupling and Coordinating Relationship between Tourism Economy and Ecological Environment—A Case Study of Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-12, December.
    9. Xiaoyu Niu & Yunfeng Hu & Lin Zhen & Yiming Wang & Huimin Yan, 2022. "Analysis of the Future Evolution of Biocapacity and Landscape Characteristics in the Agro-Pastoral Zone of Northern China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-19, December.
    10. Sam Bliss, 2019. "The Case for Studying Non-Market Food Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-30, June.
    11. Chai, Jun & Slee, William & Canavari, Maurizio & Chen, Tong & Huliyeti, Hasimu, 2008. "Study on the scope for reconstruction of the grazing livestock sector of Xinjiang based on organic farming methods," DEIAgra Working Papers 36690, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, Department of Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Engineering.
    12. Xiao Wang & Bo Zhang & Kebin Zhang & Jinxing Zhou & Bilal Ahmad, 2015. "The Spatial Pattern and Interactions of Woody Plants on the Temperate Savanna of Inner Mongolia, China: The Effects of Alternating Seasonal Grazing-Mowing Regimes," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(7), pages 1-17, July.
    13. Feinan Lyu & Ying Pan & LinJun Yu & Xiang Wang & Zhenrong Yu, 2023. "The Impact of Anthropogenic Activities and Natural Factors on the Grassland over the Agro-Pastoral Ecotone of Inner Mongolia," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-19, November.
    14. Hui Xu & Qin Guo & Chaoketu Siqin & Yingjie Li & Fei Gao, 2023. "Study of Settlement Patterns in Farming–Pastoral Zones in Eastern Inner Mongolia Using Planar Quantization and Cluster Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-23, October.
    15. Weiyi Lu & Geer Teni & Huishi Du, 2024. "Vegetation–Lake–Sand Landscape of Northeast China Sandy Land between 1980 and 2022: Pattern, Evolution, and Driving Forces," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-18, April.
    16. Yanyun Zhao & Yongzhi Yan & Qingfu Liu & Frank Yonghong Li, 2018. "How Willing Are Herders to Participate in Carbon Sequestration and Mitigation? An Inner Mongolian Grassland Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-10, August.
    17. Yintai Na & Saixiyalt Bao & Kanji Hashimoto & Christopher McCarthy & Buho Hoshino, 2018. "The Effects of Grazing Systems on Plant Communities in Steppe Lands—A Case Study from Mongolia’s Pastoralists and Inner Mongolian Settlement Areas," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-10, January.
    18. Hannes J. König & Aranka Podhora & Lin Zhen & Katharina Helming & Huimin Yan & Bingzhen Du & Jost Wübbeke & Chao Wang & Julie Klinger & Cheng Chen & Sandra Uthes, 2015. "Knowledge Brokerage for Impact Assessment of Land Use Scenarios in Inner Mongolia, China: Extending and Testing the FoPIA Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-23, April.
    19. Maite Gartzia & Federico Fillat & Fernando Pérez-Cabello & Concepción L Alados, 2016. "Influence of Agropastoral System Components on Mountain Grassland Vulnerability Estimated by Connectivity Loss," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(5), pages 1-21, May.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:12:p:4753-:d:190225. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.