Grazing impacts on the diversity and composition of alpine rangelands in Northwest Yunnan

Aims The eastern Himalayan region of Southwest China represents the world's most biodiverse temperate region as well as a cultural hotspot undergoing rapid cultural and ecological change. This area represents the center of origin for many plant groups including horticulturally valuable species of Pedicularis, Rhododendron and Primula. Alpine meadows here also provide summer pastures for Tibetan yak herders and the source for important medicinal plants. Stocking levels for livestock here have quadrupled over the last five decades and shrubs are encroaching into many historical rangelands. Yak herders voice concerns over both shrub encroachment and shrinking grasslands. In this study, we sought to determine: (i) Are alpine rangelands in Deqin County overgrazed and degraded? (ii) What are the local impacts of grazing on plant diversity and community composition? And (iii) which environmental variables covary with these differences in species composition across the grazing gradient?Methods To examine the ecological impacts of grazing in Deqin County, northwest Yunnan and assess its long-term sustainability, we used county records to determine historical population and livestock numbers, confirmed the results of interviews by Haynes (2011) and surveyed plant species richness and cover along a grazing gradient extending away from herder huts. Along these transects, we sampled 1?m 2 quadrats at 5 m intervals, noting species present and percent cover for vascular plants, grasses, sedges, rushes, moss, lichen, exposed rock, bare ground and feces. We also measured the average and maximum plant height within each quadrat. We then computed species richness for each of the 38 transects, calculating alpha and beta diversities. We used one-way ANOVAs to compare mean species richness values and average and maximum plant height across grazing intensities. To chart changes in composition along the 100m gradient, we also plotted the percent cover of graminoid, forb, shrub and bare ground versus distance from the hut. We applied NMS ordination to relate community patterns to environmental variables and grazing intensity using distances to determine species groupings.Important findings Livestock impacts are clearly evident with proportions of grass and bare ground decreasing, shrubs increasing and forbs maintaining even cover with increasing distance from the huts. In comparison with earlier surveys of sites farther from huts, we found reduced plant cover and diversity. Plant species richness almost doubles with increasing distance from herder huts from 9.9 to 19.3 species per 1 m 2 quadrat. An ordination of species and environmental variables demonstrates that grazing strongly affects plant community com position across these plots with strong impacts on palatable plants. If herd sizes remain large and suitable areas for grazing continue to decline, the cumulative impacts of grazing appear likely to degrade the rich diversity of the region and reduce rangeland quality, threatening its ability to sustain current grazing levels.