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

Aims The eastern Himalayan region of s outhwest 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. a lpine meadows here also provide summer pastures for Tibetan yak herders and the source for important medicinal plants. s tocking 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) a re alpine rangelands in Deqin County overgrazed and degraded? (ii) What are the local impacts of grazing on plant diversity and community composition? a nd (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. a long these transects, we sampled 1 m 2 quadrats at 5 m intervals, noting species present and per