Key Laboratory of Cold Regions Restoration Ecology, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qinghai Province, China.
J Environ Manage. 2021 Jun 15;288:112447. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112447. Epub 2021 Mar 27.
Grassland management is one of the most important means to address grassland degradation on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, but at present, the primary goal is still to improve grassland productivity, and little research has been conducted on grassland management based on its ecosystem service relationships. Based on remote sensing and meteorological data, we calculated and analyzed the spatial and temporal changes, trade-offs and synergistic relationships between livestock production and water retention services in alpine grassland on the southern slopes of the Qilian Mountains (SSQM), and designed a grazing management plan for sustainable development in the region. The results showed that the value of livestock production and water retention services of alpine grassland decreased from east to west, and their relationship is dominated by synergy and complemented by trade-offs. The synergistic relationships are concentrated in the Qinghai Lake Basin in the south and the river valleys in the north, while the trade-offs are scattered in the steeper terrain in the western and eastern parts of the study area. The scenario of preserving all water retention services and losing some livestock production services is sustainable. Based on this scenario we divided the alpine grassland of the study area into maintenance grazing, rotational grazing and grazing exclusion of 65.8%, 32.0% and 2.2%, respectively. Our study demonstrates that ecosystem service relationships have the potential to guide grassland management, and the results will provide new approaches to alpine grassland management.
草原管理是解决青藏高原草原退化的最重要手段之一，但目前的主要目标仍是提高草原生产力，而基于草原生态系统服务关系的草原管理研究甚少。本研究基于遥感和气象数据，计算和分析了祁连山南坡高寒草地（SSQM）牲畜生产与水源涵养服务的时空变化、权衡与协同关系，并设计了该区域可持续发展的放牧管理方案。结果表明，高寒草地的牲畜生产和水源涵养服务价值从东向西逐渐降低，其关系以协同为主，权衡为辅。协同关系集中在南部的青海湖流域和北部的河谷，而权衡则分散在研究区西部和东部较陡峭的地形中。保留所有水源涵养服务并损失部分牲畜生产服务的情景是可持续的。基于这一情景，我们将研究区高寒草地划分为维持放牧、轮牧和禁牧 65.8%、32.0%和 2.2%。本研究表明，生态系统服务关系具有指导草原管理的潜力，研究结果将为高寒草地管理提供新的方法。
