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Publications
Publications (19)
Grassland represents one of the most expansive terrestrial ecosystems, exerting a profound influence on atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) levels within the broader context of global change. Both climate and land use changes play important roles in modulating grassland GHG emissions by directly or indirectly altering soil physical and chemical proper...
Grasslands support a variety of herbivores that profoundly impact biodiversity and ecosystem functioning at local and regional scales. Understanding how different herbivores influence plant diversity across multiple scales is crucial for effective biodiversity conservation. However, most studies have focussed on the effects of grazing intensity on...
The soil seed bank plays a key role in vegetation resilience under environmental disturbances, and is especially important for the restoration of degraded vegetation. However, the responsive dynamics of the soil seed bank to animal grazing and its potential in the restoration of grazing degraded steppe grassland remain unclear. Here we examined the...
Photodegradation via ultraviolet (UV) radiation is an important factor driving plant litter decomposition. Despite increasing attention to the role of UV photodegradation in litter decomposition, the specific impact of UV radiation on the plant litter decomposition stage within biogeochemical cycles remains unclear at regional and global scales. To...
Grasslands provide multiple ecosystem services (ESs) including provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services that are largely affected by livestock grazing. Linking plant functional traits (PFTs) to ecosystem processes and functions has attracted extensive ecological research to explore the responses and inter-relations of ecosystem s...
Aims
Grazing different grasslands with seasonal changes is the tradition in pastoral systems in natural grassland regions worldwide. The effects and mechanisms of different grazing seasons on semi‐arid steppe vegetation are less explored on the Mongolian Plateau. Therefore, we assessed the impact and underlying mechanisms of grazing seasons on gras...
Nutrient resorption is a key strategy of perennial plants for conservation and efficient use of nutrients. Previous studies show that semi-arid steppe may maintain its nutrient resorption flux under moderate grazing that substantially removes plant biomass and nutrients, while the mechanisms underlying the fact are unclear. We performed a three-yea...
The decomposition of plant litter and animal dung is the key processes of nutrient cycling and has been studied in a wide range of grassland ecosystems. However, most studies focus on the separate processes of either plant litter or animal dung decomposition, while the interactions between these two processes, which occur in grazed grassland ecosys...
Nutrient resorption in autumn is a key mechanism of perennial plants for nutrient conservation and efficient use in grassland. Grazing effects on plant nutrient resorption may alter root nutrient conservation and affect plant growth in the subsequent spring. There are many studies on nutrient resorption and conservation of plants in grazing grassla...
Aims
The general effects of grazing by large herbivores on plant species composition and productivity are well known. Meanwhile, how different livestock species affect community structure is not fully understood. In northern China, livestock species composition is changing rapidly and hence, it is imperative to understand the resulting effects on g...
Plant species generally absorb different nitrogen (N) forms from soil in ways that minimize N niche overlap, but whether and how grazing affects a plant’s preferred form of N remains unclear. We explored the preferences of plants in taking up N of different chemical forms along an experimental gradient of grazing intensity in a semi-arid grassland...
Aims:
Grazing and mowing are two major land use types in natural grasslands, which have intensive effects on nutrient cycling of grassland ecosystems by fecaluria nutrient deposition versus hay nutrient removal. Plant nutrients sensitively responds to the changes in nutrient cycling, while the information on the effects of diverse grazing versus mo...
Aboveground and belowground invertebrates play a key role in decomposition of organic matter in terrestrial ecosystems. Dung beetles are well known for their functions in breaking down and transporting ungulate dung into soils thus promoting dung decomposition. However, the effects of functionally different dung beetles on the decomposition process...
Spatial heterogeneity in vegetation may derive from variation in animal movement patterns, but these patterns have been difficult to study at the fine spatial and temporal resolutions necessary to relate them to small-scale vegetation patterns. Here, we demonstrated the utility of Ultra-WideBand (UWB) technology to examine animal movement patterns....
Grazing regime is the most important factor that alters nutrient cycling in grassland ecosystems. Grazing exclusion has been used for restoration of degraded natural grasslands in Northern China during past two decades, while we propose that 'summer grazing' could be a better management than grazing exclusion for this purpose. Summer grazing allows...
Abstract: Spatial heterogeneity in a grassland ecosystem is associated with grassland species diversity and production stability. Understanding the drivers and mechanisms of grassland spatial heterogeneity is essential for the development of best practices in grassland management. To our knowledge, patch-scale spatial heterogeneity of the grassland...
The daily intake and the diet selection of livestock are basic parameters in developing best practices for grazing management. In this study, we compared the food intake and the diet selection of three types of domestic animals (sheep, goat and cattle) under the same grazing intensity on a typical steppe grassland in Inner Mongolia. The results sho...