See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/281127908

Causes and Restoration of Degraded Alpine Grassland in Northern Tibet

Article in Journal of Resources and Ecology · March 2013

DOI: 10.5814/j.issn.1674-764x.2013.01.006

CITATIONS READS

18 112

8 authors, including:

Zhenxi Shen Jian Tao

Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences Shandong Technology and Business University
74 PUBLICATIONS 1,397 CITATIONS 16 PUBLICATIONS 455 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Jianshuang Wu
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
71 PUBLICATIONS 980 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Elevation-dependent effects of climate change on vegetation change View project

Models validation, simulation and application View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Jianshuang Wu on 07 February 2017.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

March, 2013 Journal of Resources and Ecology Vol.4 No.1
J. Resour. Ecol. 2013 4 (1) 043-049
DOI:10.5814/j.issn.1674-764x.2013.01.006
Article
www.jorae.cn

Causes and Restoration of Degraded Alpine Grassland in

Northern Tibet

WANG Jingsheng1, ZHANG Xianzhou1*, CHEN Baoxiong1, SHI Peili1, ZHANG Junlong2, SHEN Zhenxi1, TAO Jian1
and WU Jianshuang1

1 Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS,
Beijing 100101, China;
2 School of Environment and Natural Resources, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China.

Abstract: Grassland in northern Tibet plays an important role in the eco-security of the Qinghai-Tibet
Plateau and the restoration of deserted and degraded grassland is now a focus for governments. We
used remote sensing, simulations and field surveys to analyze the current status, trends and causes of
grassland degradation across northern Tibet. We develop several recovery models for degraded grassland
based on field experiments in the region. We found that slightly degraded grassland covers 62% and
that moderate to severely degraded grassland occupied 15.1% in the Chang Tang Plateau. The amount
of degraded alpine steppe increased from 1991, and the amount of area classified as severely degraded
increased sharply from 2000. The cause of degraded steppe in northwestern Tibet may be the result of
warming and an arid climate; the cause of severe degradation in mid and eastern regions was mainly from
overgrazing. Three restoration models are proposed for different levels of degradation: “enclosures” for
slightly degraded areas, “enclosures with fertilization” for moderately degraded areas, and “enclosure
with oversowing and fertilization” for severely degraded areas.

Key words: Chang Tang Plateau; steppe degradation; driving force; restoration models; grassland.

grassland degradation has accelerated and desertification

1 Introduction
The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, or so-called ‘Roof of the World’,
covers 2.5 million km 2, equal to around one quarter of
China’s terrestrial area. It is considered a “Startup Region”
and “Ecological Source” of climate change, and the “River
Source” for Asia. The Plateau plays an important role
in regional ecological security and ecological buffering.
Tibet forms the main component of the Qinghai-Tibet
Plateau, especially northern Tibet including Ali and Nagchu
prefectures.
Due to long-term livestock overgrazing and climate
change in the area, the entirely grassland ecosystem is facing
worsening degradation (Cai et al. 2007; Li and Liu 2005,
2007). The alpine steppe climate is frigid and dry in northern
Tibet; alpine ecosystems are fragile and thus productivity is
low. With global warming and increasing grazing intensity,
now affects some areas (Mao et al. 2008; Yang et al. 2007;
Shao et al. 2008).
The Chang Tang Plateau is a high altitude area undergoing
increasing grassland degradation and desertification. There is
a real risk of grasslands in the area evolving into secondary
bare land or “black soil patches” resulting in a loss of soil
and biodiversity, a source of sandstorms. Further, grassland
degradation may negatively impact the function of grasslands
and this may become a threat to sustainable development
and social stability. It is therefore necessary to establish and
run a synthetic management system for degraded grassland
ecosystems.
2 Data and methodology
Data was sourced from Advanced Very High Resolution
Radiometer remote sensing and analyzed using GIS.

Received: 2012-08-13 Accepted: 2012-11-19

Foundation: The Key Technologies Research and Development Program of China (2011BAC09B03), Strategic Priority Research Program of
Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDA05060700), and the ‘Western Light’ talents training program of Chiese Academy of Sciecnes.
* Corresponding author: ZHANG Xianzhou. Email: zhangxz@igsnrr.ac.cn.
44 Journal of Resources and Ecology Vol.4 No.1, 2013
80°E 85°E 90°E

N
35°N

W E

35°N
30°N

Fig. 1 Change in vegetation

in northern Tibet between
1982 and 2006. Blue indicates
vegetation improvement, and

30°N
0 75 150 300 450 600
km orange represents vegetation
85°E 90°E 95°E degradation.

A vegetation-climate model and CASA (Carnegie-
Ames-Stanford Approach) model was used to simulate
productivity data (Wang et al. 2008, 2010). Meteorological
data was from the National Meteorological Administration.
Field confirmation data for the model simulations was from
the Lhasa Plateau Ecosystem Research Station, Institute
of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research,
Chinese Academy of Sciences) from 2006–2010. All
statistical analyses were conducted in SPSS 16.0 and Excel
and plotted using Origin 8.0.
3 Results
The Chang Tang Plateau (including Nagchu and Ali
prefectures with an average elevation over 4500 m) in
northern Tibet covers about 600 000 km 2, 480 000 km 2
of which is grassland (60% of the natural grassland area
in Tibet) (Gao et al. 2010). The grassland is composed of
alpine meadow, alpine steppe and alpine desert. Owing to
its high altitude, frigid and arid features, alpine ecosystems
in northern Tibet are very sensitive and fragile to climate
change and human disturbance.
3.1 Degraded alpine steppe in northern Tibet
Changes in vegetation coverage in northern Tibet calculated
from AVHRR remote sensing data from 1982–2006 ate
shown in Table 1. The total area of degraded steppe is
77.1%, with 62% of slight degradation, 14.1% moderate
degradation and 1% severe degradation. The results are
much higher than estimates published in the “Project of
Returning Cropping Land to Forage Land”, which estimated
47.8% and 36.4% of degraded steppe in Nagchu and Ali
prefectures respectively. The area of slightly, moderately
and severely degraded steppe increased sharply from
1991, and that of severe degraded steppe increased form
2000 (Table 1). Gao’s estimation in Nagchu prefecture is
consistent with the present study (Gao et al. 2005, 2007a,
2007b). Slight degradation has occurred in the western
Chang Tang Plateau (including Ritog, Gerze and Geji

Table 1 Temporal trends in steppe degradation in northern Tibet.

1982–1990 1991–2000 2001–2006
Degradation degree
Area (km2) Ratio (%) Area (km2) Ratio (%) Area (km2) Ratio (%)
Non-degradation 283 904 35.7 — — 116 672 22.9
Slight degradation 333 824 63.8 343 680 56.1 445 312 62.0
Moderate degradation 1024 0.5 274 944 43.8 54 848 14.1
Severe degradation 64 0.0 192 0.09 1984 1.0

Table 2 Spatial pattern of degraded steppe (2001–2006).

West region Middle region East region
Trend
Area (km2) Rate (%) Area (km2) Rate (%) Area (km2) Rate (%)
Non-degradation 36 416 16.4 56 832 18.4 23 424 27.0
Slight degradation 179 968 82.1 213 376 68.9 51 968 51.9
Moderate degradation 3840 1.5 27 392 12.6 23 616 19.5
Severe degradation 0 0.0 128 0.2 1856 1.6
WANG Jingsheng, et al.: Causes and Restoration of Degraded Alpine Grassland in Northern Tibet
Counties), and moderately and severely degraded steppe
is found in the central (including Baingoin, Nyima and
Shenzha Counties) and eastern regions (including Amdo,
Damxung, Nagchu, Sog, Chali, Nyainrong, Baqen and Biru
Counties) (Fig. 1 and Table 2). In general, the degree of
steppe degradation worsened from west to east, areas of
slight degradation decreased, and moderate and severely
degraded areas increased.
3.2 Causes of steppe degradation
3.2.1 The effect of climate change
From 1955 to 2004, significant warming occurred
across northern Tibet. Generally, air temperature in the
region increased by 1.4˚C. The long term mean annual
temperatures are 0.17˚C (western region), –0.6˚C (central
region) and –2.13˚C (eastern region). Annual precipitation
showed an opposite trend from 1955 to 2004, with annual
mean precipitation of 425.4 mm in the east, 306.6 mm in the
central region and 119.3 in the west. There is an increasing
trend of precipitation in the eastern and central regions, but
no change in the western region (Fig. 2).
2.0 Eastern part
Middle part
1.5
Western part
1.0
0.5
0.0
Temperature (˚C)
45
Vegetation and climate model simulations show temporal
change in net primary productivity (Fig. 3). The potential
NPP is in a continuous rising state, with a yearly increasing
rate of 0.07 t ha-1 before 1985 and 0.17 t ha-1 after 1985.
Current mean simulated annual NPP is 2.87 t ha -1 y -1,
22.1% higher than that 50 years ago. With climate change,
the potential NPP rate of increase in the central, eastern
and western regions of northern Tibet are 0.55, 0.51 and
0.21 t ha-1 y-1, respectively. This result shows that climate
change improves general productivity across the Chang
Tang Plateau and this is an indicator of the recovering
alpine steppe (Sheng et al. 2008). However, the simulation
outcome from the CASA model (Yang and Piao 2006) for
the actual NPP decreased from 1985 to 1995, despite an
increasing potential NPP for the same period. This indicates
that the grassland in Chang Tang Plateau was degraded and
may have resulted from overgrazing from 1985 to 1995.
Although NPP has been increasing in recent years, it is still
below historical levels (Zhao et al. 2009).
3.2.2 Carrying capacity and overgrazing
The grazing season in northern Tibet is divided into a warm
and cold period. The warm period lasts for 150 days, with
average dietary fresh forage needs of 4 kg fresh grass.
The cold period covers 215 days, with dietary dry grass
of 1 kg. According to the rate of fresh grass to dry grass
of 1:3, one sheep can eat 415 kg dry grass per year (Tibet
Autonomous Land Management Bureau, Tibet Autonomous

-0.5 Animal Husbandry Bureau 1994). In northern Tibet the

-1.0 mean maximum potential NPP is 2.77 t ha-1 y-1 (Wang et al.
-1.5 2010). The ratio of aboveground biomass to underground
-2.0 biomass is 8.5%–13.2%, using the experiment rate value
-2.5 result of 8.9% in this study, potential NPP can be calculated
-3.0 as 246.5 kg (dry grass) ha -1 y -1. Grassland degradation
-3.5 grazing experiments conducted at the Haibei Grassland
-4.0 Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences show that a 45%
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 grass grazing level in both periods is the best level to avoid
Year

600 Comprehensive Model NPP

Eastern part
550 Middle part CASA Model NPP
3.2
Western part Trendline
500
450 3.0
400 2.8
Precipitation (mm)

Precipitation (mm)

350
300 2.6
250
2.4
200
150 2.2
100
50 2.0

1.8
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1975 1980 1985
Year Year
Fig. 2 Annual precipitation and annual mean temperature Fig. 3 Simulation of potential and actual NPP of grassland
during the growing period from 1955 to 2004. ecosystems in the Chang Tang Plateau (Wang et al . 2010).
46 Journal of Resources and Ecology Vol.4 No.1, 2013

grassland degradation in Qinghai Province. “Black soil condition of livestock overloading.

type” degraded grassland manual vegetation plantation and
usage indicates that grassland grazing usage in the warm
stage and cold period should remain between 40%–60%
and 70%–90% respectively as this is the best level to
avoid grassland degradation. The available technology of
“Grassland Rotational Grazing Technology Standards”
introduced by the Grassland Research Institute, Chinese
Academy of Agriculture Sciences regulates the reasonable
use ratio of forage grass at 45%–75%. The forage grass use
ratio used in the grassland resources inventory by the Tibet
Autonomous Region is 40%–70% (Tibet Autonomous Land
Management Bureau 1994). Our study takes the best grass
usage ratio as 60%. The theoretical maximum husbandry
capacity of the Chang Tang Plateau is one sheep unit for 2.81
ha grassland, or 0.356 sheep unit for 1 ha.
We used a vegetation-climate model to simulate NPP,
and integrated the data above to calculate the theoretical
livestock capacity of the classic grassland farming county.
We then compared actual livestock investigated by the
county government. The results show that northern Tibet is
overloaded with livestock, and only Gaize County can hold
another 52.79×104 sheep units. However, Gaize County
possess a very large area, more than half of its area is not
used by people at all, and it is the equivalent of 101.15×104
sheep units grazing on the 300×104 ha of grassland and a
severe livestock overload situation. In severely overloaded
counties including Nagchu and Dangxiong County,
the rate of overloading is more than 200% (Table 3).
Because Nagchu County is the capital of Nagchu District
and Dangxiong County is the main source of animal
husbandry products to Lhasa, the two counties are relatively
economically developed. Gar County is the capital of Ali
District and the rate of overloaded husbandry is 112.18%.
The climate of Gar is very dry and the environment is very
fragile which means the ecological capacity is extremely
small, and livestock overloading is much more serious here
than in Nagchu and Dangxiong Counties. In general, the
degree of economic development and grassland livestock
overloading are closely connected in northern Tibet:
the more economically developed, the more serious the
3.3 Patterns of degraded steppe and recovery
3.3.1 Grazing enclosures for the recovery of slightly
degraded steppe
Slightly degraded grassland can be used for moderate
grazing after two years of grazing exclosure, after which
it fully recovers and can be used for normal grazing. The
enclosure experiment in Cuoma village in Amdo County
showed that the number of species in the community
decreased by 13.8%, but the abundance of dominant
species increased by 25.4%. The total grass coverage in the
enclosure sample site increased from 3% in the first year to
5% after two years of enclosure (Table 4).
There was little difference in the aboveground biomass
between one year of enclosure and the control at the
beginning of the growing season (about 1.45 g m-2 each).
As the growing season approached the aboveground
biomass in enclosure plots increased by 205.34% (38.18
g m -2), though the non-enclosure aboveground biomass
increased by 121.70% (31.90 g m -2), the non-enclosure
aboveground biomass rate of increase is much smaller than
that in the enclosure. This pattern may result from livestock
grazing and trampling. At the end of the growing season
in September, the aboveground biomass in the enclosure
decreased by 16.46% to 31.90 g m-2, but the non-enclosure
reduced by 7.65% to 22.46 g m -2 . The aboveground
biomass in the enclosure was 1.43 times as much as that not
enclosed. Enclosure significantly improved aboveground
biomass. After two years of grassland enclosure, grass
biomass increased continuously from July to September.
This phenomenon is related to the grassland population
type. The one-year enclosure was dominated by herbs,
while the two-year enclosure changed as grasses dominated
by Stipa sp. and Festuca ovina of Gramineae. The total
biomass two-year enclosure plots are 1.29 times greater
than for non-enclosures (Table 5).
The underground biomass in northern Tibet presents
a “T” distribution with the depth of the soil. With most
root biomass distributed in soil depth from 0 to 10 cm,
and decreasing sharply in deeper soil (Table 5). Field

Table 3 Theoretical and actual husbandry capacity of northern Tibet.

Simulation NPP Simulation grass Theoretical Actual husbandry Overload Rate of overload
(dry weight) Area (dry weight) husbandry capacity capacity husbandry husbandry
County
(104 hm2) (t) (104) (104) (104) (%)
(t hm-2)
Sog 0.4764 41.93 11.99 28.88 62.48 33.60 116.34
Nagchu 0.3730 134.5 30.10 72.54 229.57 157.03 216.48
Amdo 0.3629 216.33 47.11 113.51 192.01 78.50 69.16
Shenzha 0.3022 177.06 32.11 77.37 89.36 11.99 15.49
Baingoin 0.2798 219.46 36.84 88.77 156.51 67.74 76.31
Gar 0.0899 112.38 5.05 12.17 27.04 14.87 122.18
Gerze 0.2112 620.58 65.54 157.94 105.15 –52.79 –33.42
Damxung 0.4663 62.48 17.48 42.12 128.58 86.46 205.26
Sum 0.3202(mean) 1584.72 246.22 593.30 990.70 397.40 66.98
WANG Jingsheng, et al.: Causes and Restoration of Degraded Alpine Grassland in Northern Tibet 47
Table 4 Steppe community characteristics of enclosure in different years.
Years of Field investigation Abundance Total coverage
Community type Dominant species Dominance
enclosure date (%) (%)
Forb rangeland One year 2008-07-02 19 Potentilla fruticosa, 30.49 9±4.03
enclosured Leontopodium stracheyi
2008-07-21 18 Oxytropis sp., 25.22 23±3.51
Carex spp., 15.94 15.70
Potentilla fruticosa
2008-08-31 17 Oxytropis sp., 29.25 16.57 17±3
Festuca ovina
C.K. 2008-07-02 21 Potentilla fruticosa, Festuca 26.34 16.98 10±3.96
ovina
2008-07-21 24 Potentilla fruticosa, 29.25 17.91 12±1.53
Leontopodium stracheyi
2008-08-31 21 Anemone protracta 33.42 17±1.15
Grass rangeland Two year 2008-07-04 20 Stipa purpurea 47.72 36±9.18
enclosured 2008-07-21 17 Stipa purpurea 38.92 38±7.21
2008-08-31 21 Stipa purpurea 36.07 37±3.06
C.K. 2008-07-04 22 Stipa purpurea 31.88 30±5.29
2008-07-21 20 Stipa purpurea 32.26 34±8.72
2008-08-31 22 Stipa purpurea 49 32±2.08

Table 5 Distribution of biomass in enclosure plots in different years (g m-2).

Underground productivity in depth Above ground productivity
Years of enclosure
0–10cm 10–20cm 20–30cm July August September
Enclosure for one year 171.22 (75.02%) 42.14%–18.46% 14.86 (6.51%) 12.51 38.18 31.9
C.K. 124.73 (69.33%) 38.55 (21.43%) 16.64 (9.25%) 10.97 24.32 22.46
Enclosure for two years 531.35 (71.67%) 136.40 (18.40%) 73.61 (9.93%) 42.43 54.08 89.67
C.K. 427.02 (68.34%) 140.79 (22.53%) 57.00 (9.12%) 36.23 44.51 63.29
Note: numbers in parentheses are the ratio to the total aboveground biomass.

investigation showed a great amount of root biomass in
the surface layer. The root biomass in one-year enclosure
plots was 1.31 times as much as that of non-enclosures.
The ratio was 1.19 between two-year enclosure to non-
enclosure plots. In addition, the ratios of belowground to
aboveground were 11.94, 13.02, 8.30 and 9.34 in one-year
enclosure, non-enclosure, two years enclosure and two
years non-enclosure, respectively. The ratio of belowground
to aboveground decreased in enclosure plots in contrast to
non-enclosure plots (Table 5).
3.3.2 Enclosures with fertilization for the recovery of
moderately degraded steppe
In northern Tibet the model of “Enclosure with fertilization”
is usually used in the recovery of moderately degraded
grassland. The key technology is to apply fertilizer to the
degraded grassland: 210 kg ha-1 diammonium phosphate
(DAP) and 10.5 kg ha-1 urea. After fertilization, grazing is
strictly prohibited during the rainy season from late June to
early July. For steppe dominated by Stipa sp., a fertilization
dose of 105 kg ha-1 of urea can be used.
The steppe meadow dominated by Stipa purpurea,
increased height, coverage and productivity (aboveground
biomass) after fertilizer application. However, for grazing
pastures, nitrogen fertilization only distinctly reduced
the height and coverage of forage (Fig. 4), but somehow
increased productivity. The different proportion of
nitrogen and phosphate in mixed fertilizer will affect grass
population characteristics, for example: the yield of 66.8 g
m-2 in 10 g N m-2 fertilization is less than 79.6 g m-2 in 5 g N
m-2 treatment. The effect of mixed fertilization with nitrogen
and phosphate is better than that when using nitrogen only.
In this experiment, canopy height and yield of forage were
highest under mixed fertilization of 5 g N + 5g P m-2. The
average height and yield was 51 mm and 119.6 g m-2, 2.3
times as much as the yield from the control treatment.
For the enclosure grassland, fertilization induced higher
height and yield of forage grass. The average height and
yield of grass under the 5 g N + 5 g P m-2 treatment reached
70 mm 188 g m-2, 2.2–2.3 times as much as the yield of the
control treatment (Fig. 5).
In general, mixed fertilization with nitrogen and
phosphorous will produce higher yields in steppe meadows
dominated by Stipa purpurea in northern Tibet, such as a
5 g N + 5 g P m-2 treatment. Fertilizing enclosure and non-
enclosure grasslands saw the yield of forage grass when
48 Journal of Resources and Ecology Vol.4 No.1, 2013

48 Height (mm) Aboveground biomass

46 Coverage (%) Underground biomass
120 500
44 Aboveground biomass (g m-2) Biomass
42
40 100 400
38
36
mm, %

300

g m-2
34

g m-2
80
32
30 200
28 60
26 100
24
22 40 0
CK 5gN 10gN 5N5P 10N5P CK 5gN 10gN 5N5P 10N5P
N & P addition N & P addition
Fig. 4 The effect of fertilization on natural grassland in Fig. 6 Biomass outputs from the fertilization experiment in
Cuoma, Amdo County. Bangai, Amdo County.

90
Table 6 The effect of enclosure with oversowing and
Height (mm)
200 fertilization on aboveground biomass.
80 Coverage (%)
70
Aboveground biomass (g m-2)
180 Biomass in Biomass in Relative Absolute
CK (g m-2) oversowing (g m-2) increase increase
60
160 984.4 2625.7 166% 1641.3
50
mm, %

140
g m-2

40
30
20
10
0
CK 5g N 10g N 5N5P 10N5P
N & P addition
Fig. 5 The effect of fertilization on enclosure grassland in
Cuoma, Amdo County.
fertilized using 5 g N + 5 g P m-2 rise 2.2–2.3 times that of
the control, and 3.7 times that of the non-enclosure and non-
fertilization treatment.
The vegetation at the Bangai experiment site in Amdo
County is Kobresia pymaea-dominated alpine meadow (Fig.
6). After adding nitrogen fertilizer only, the total biomass,
aboveground biomass and underground biomass sharply
declined. In the 5g N m-2 plot, total biomass decreased by
54.9%, with the aboveground and underground biomass
decreasing by 35.4% and 57.2%, respectively. After
increasing fertilization levels to 10 g N m-2, total biomass
of grass increased little in contrast to that obtained from
the 5 g N m-2 fertilization level. However, the biomass of
Kobresia pymaea meadows increased dramatically after
using mixed nitrogen and phosphate fertilizer. The effect
of fertilization with 10 g N + 5 g P m-2 was better than that
of 5 g N + 5 g P m-2. The biomass resulting from mixed
fertilization increased by 24% than that in control plots,
in which aboveground biomass increased by 164.8%;
however, underground biomass part still decreased by 4.7%.
This indicates that mixed nitrogen and phosphate fertilizer
induced increases in yield of Kobresia pymaea meadow
grass in northern Tibet.
120 3.3.3 Enclosures with oversowing and fertilization for the
recovery of severely degraded steppe
100
Severely degraded steppe comprising bare land on the
80 Chang Tang Plateau requires enclosures with oversowing
and fertilization in order to recover. After shallow ploughing
bare land, 60 kg ha -1 mixed seeds of Elymus nutans,
Puccinellia tenuiflora and Poa crymophila at a ratio of 30
: 5 : 1 in the enclosure; 75 kg ha-1 of DAP and 30 kg ha-1
of urea was used as the base fertilizer. Using this method
aboveground biomass increased by 166.7% compared with
a control after two years. Biomass resulting from this model
was 2.7 times higher compared to the control treatment
(Table 6).
4 Conclusions
Slightly degraded steppe is mainly distributed in the
northwestern Chang Tang Plateau, covering 62% of
the total grassland area. The rate of steppe degradation
has slowed since 2000. The majority of moderately and
severely degraded steppe is found in the mid-southern and
southeastern Chang Tang Plateau. The area of moderately
and severely degraded steppe is expanding.
Over the last 50 years, the temperature across northern
Tibet has increased by 1.4˚C, and precipitation rose by
75–115 mm in the eastern and central regions (no obvious
change in the west). An expansion of degraded grassland
in the west was mainly due to warm and dry climate
change and overgrazing. Although the trend of warming
and increasing humidity in the central and eastern regions
is beneficial to grassland productivity, overstocking of
husbandry animals and overgrazing are driving moderate
and severe degradation in northern Tibet (Wang 2010).
 WANG Jingsheng, et al.: Causes and Restoration of Degraded Alpine Grassland in Northern Tibet
The pathway for recovering slightly degraded steppe
is the use of “enclosures”. Through this measure, canopy
coverage increased by 5% in the second year and
aboveground and underground biomass increased by 129%
and 119% respectively. Moderately degraded steppe can
be rehabilitated by “enclosure with fertilization”: 5 g N
+ 5 g P m -2 of fertilizer in steppe meadows dominated
by Stipa purpurea increased coverage by 20% and grass
yield by 230%. However, nitrogen application alone was
not effective for alpine meadows dominated by Kobresia
pymaea. The “enclosure with oversowing and fertilization”
model is suitable for recovering severely degraded steppe as
grass yield increased by 270% using this method.
References
Cai X B, Zhang Y Q, Shao W. 2007. Degredation and mechanism of
grassland of north Tibet alpine prairie. Soils, 39 (6): 855-858. (in
Chinese)
Gao Q Z, Duan M J, Li Y E, et al. 2010. Change trends of grassland
coverage and pasture growth in the northwest area of Tibet. Chinese
Journal of Agrometeorology, 31(4): 582-585. (in Chinese)
Gao Q Z, Wan Y F, Li Y E, et al. 2007(a). Trends of grassland NPP and its
response to human activity in Northern Tibet. Acta Ecologica Sinica,
27(11):4612-4619. (in Chinese)
Gao Q Z, Wan Y F, Li Y E, et al. 2007(b). Grassland net primary
productivity and its spatiotemporal distribution in Northern Tibet: A study
with CASA model. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology, 18(11): 2526-
2532. (in Chinese)
Gao Q Z, Li Y E, Lin E D, et al. 2005.Temporal and spatial distribution
of grassland degradation in Northern Tibet. Acta Geographica Sinica,
60(6):965-973. (in Chinese)
藏北高寒草地退化现状、原因与恢复模式
王景升1，张宪洲1，陈宝雄1，石培礼1，张俊龙2，沈振西1，陶 建1，武建双1
1 中国科学院地理科学与资源研究所 生态系统网络观测与模拟重点实验室，北京 100101；
2 中国人民大学 环境学院，北京 100872
摘 要：藏北高寒草地系统生态脆弱且区位重要，草地退化和沙化的治理是目前学者们重点关注的领域之一。本文采用遥
感解译、模型模拟、地面取样验证等相结合的方法，分析了藏北高寒草地生态系统退化的现状、趋势和原因，以实验为基础，
总结了退化草地恢复的几种重要模式。数据分析表明：藏北羌塘高原轻度退化草地占62.0%，中度和重度退化草地占15.1%，
1991年以来，退化面积快速增加，2000年以来重度退化面积增加趋势明显。藏北西部的草地轻度退化可能由气候暖干化所引
起，而中部、东部的重度退化主要由超载过牧引起。总结出轻度退化草地的“封育”、中度退化草地的“施肥+封育”、重度
退化草地的“补播+施肥+封育”三种草地恢复模式。提出了退化草地恢复和保护的间接途径“南草北上”生态工程的战略构
想。
关键词：羌塘高原；草地退化；驱动力；恢复模式
View publication stats
49
Li H X, Liu S Z. 2007. Monitoring grassland degradation in Naqu County
of Tibet. Research of Soil and Water Conservation, 14(2): 98-100. (in
Chinese)
Li H X, Liu S Z. 2005. Systematic analysis on the driving force of grassland
degradation in north Tibet. Research of Soil and Water Conservation,
12(6): 215-217. (in Chinese)
Mao F, Zhang Y H, Hou Y Y, et al. 2008. Dynam ic assessment of grassland
degradation in Naqu of northern Tibet. Chinese Journal of Applied
Ecology, 19(2): 278-284. (in Chinese)
Shao W, Cai X B. 2008. Grassland degradation and its formation causes
analysis in Tibetan Plateau. Science of Soil and Water Conservation, 6(1):
112-116. (in Chinese)
Sheng W P, Gao Q Z, Li Y E, et al. 2008. Characteristic of Climate Change
in Northern Tibet and Its Impact. Plateau Meteorology. 27 (3): 509-516.
(in Chinese)
Wang J S, Zhang X Z, Zhao Y P, et al. 2008. Spatio-temporal Pattern of
Climate Changes in Northern Tibet’s Qiangtang Plateau. Resources
Science, 30(12): 1852-1859. (in Chinese)
Wang J S, Zhang X Z, Zhao Y P, et al. 2010. Spatio-temporal pattern of
alpine grassland productivity in Qiangtang Plateau. Chinese Journal of
Applied Ecology, 21(6): 1400-1404. (in Chinese)
Tibet Autonomous Land Management Bureau, Tibet Autonomous Animal
Husbandry Bureau. 1994. The Grassland Resources of Tibet Autonomous.
Beijing: Science Press.
Yang K, Gao Q Z, Li Y E, et al. 2007. Spatial distribution of grassland
degradation and trend in Northern Tibet. Advances in Earth Science,
22(4):410-416. (in Chinese)
Yang Y H, Piao S L. 2006. Variations in grassland vegetation cover in
relation to climatic factors on the Tibetan Plateau. Journal of Plant
Ecology, 30(1): 1-8. (in Chinese)
Zhao Y P, Zhang X Z, Wang J S, Shen Z X. 2009. Correlation analysis
between NDVI and climatic factors of grassland ecosystems in the
Northern Tibetan Plateau from 1982 to 2003. Resources Science, 31(11):
1988-1998. (in Chinese)