Medium-Term Effect of Livestock Grazing Intensities on the Vegetation Dynamics in Alpine Meadow Ecosystems

作者：Bo Chen, Xujun Ma, Xiaolei Zhou, Zhang Xiao-wei, Xuhu Wang, Zizhen Li, Xinyi Yang, Songsong Lu, Weibo Du · 发表于：Land · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.3390/land14030591 · 被引用次数：6 · 研究领域：Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Botany and Plant Ecology Studies、Plant Ecology and Soil Science

The dynamics and plant composition of toxic weeds in alpine meadows are strongly influenced by management practices such as livestock grazing. Here, the effect of grazing management on vegetation and soil characteristics within an alpine meadow ecosystem was assessed over a 5-year period. The experimental grazing treatments comprised no grazing (control), light grazing (5 sheep/ha), moderate grazing (10 sheep/ha), and heavy grazing (15 sheep/ha). The characteristics of both edible grass and toxic weeds, along with the soil’s physicochemical and biological properties, were evaluated. Under heavy grazing, the biomass of toxic weeds increased by 15.0%, while the biomass of edible species decreased by 57.0% compared to the control. The findings indicated that after 5 years, the plant composition changed significantly, with edible species such as Taraxacum mongolicum and Tibetia himalaica decreasing and disappearing under moderate and heavy grazing treatments. Conversely, toxic weeds like Stellera chamaejasme and Euphorbia micractina emerged under moderate or heavy grazing. Additionally, the richness of toxic weeds increased from 6.3 under the control to 14.2 under heavy grazing. Regarding soil properties, the levels of soil glucosidase, amylase, and cellulose decreased by 39.0%, 53.0%, and 40.0%, respectively. The amount of available potassium initially decreased and then increased under heavy grazing. The results demonstrated that the quality of the vegetation cover and a soil’s...