Doctoral Dissertation
Effect of grazing pressure on vegetation
structure of Mongolian rangeland
September, 2013
Jambal SERGELENKHUU
Graduate School of Environmental and Life Science
(Doctor`s course)
OKAYAMA UNIVERSITY
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1. Climate
1.1. Seasons in Mongolia……………………………………………………………………….7
1.2. Geographical change in climate condition……………………………….…………………..7
2 Vegetation………………………………………………………………….………………….8
3. Researches on effect of pastoralism on steppe vegetation…………………….………………..8
4. Nomadic Pastoralism of Mongolia………………………………………..………………….9
4.1 Condition of Rangeland of Mongolia………………………………………………………….9
4.2 Livestock of Mongolia……………………………………………….……………………..10
4.3 Modern pastoralism of Mongolia………………………………………………………..…..11
4.4 Degradation of rangeland………………………………………………………………………12
4.5 Changes on vegetation by overgrazing……………………………………………………....13
5. Objectives……………………………………………………………………………………. 13
CHAPTER 2 MATERIALS AND METHODS
1.
Study area………………………………………………………………………………………..17
2. Study sites…………………………………………………………………………………………17
3. Plant functional type (PFT)……………………………………………………………………….18
4.
Meteorological data……………………………………………………………………………..19
5. Sampling design and collected data………………………………………………………………19
6. Data analysis………………………………………………………………………………………20
CHAPTER 3 WEATHER CONDITION
1. Weather condition during the experimental period……………………………………………….28
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1.1 Seasonal changes…………………………………………………………………………28
1.2. Yearly changes………………………………………………………………………………..29
1.3 Geographycal changes……………………………………………………………………29
1.4 Difference among sites……………………………………………………………….......30
CHAPER 4: VEGETATION STRUCTURE
1. Species composition………………………………………………………………………41
2. Plant functional types and palatability……………………………………………………41
3. Geographycal changes…………………………………………………………………….43
3.1 Study site classification………………………………………………………………….43
3.2 Dominant species………………………………………………………………………...44
4. Grazing effects on vegetation structure………………………….......................................44
4.1 Suppressed area and endmost area………………………………………………………44
4.2. Geographical difference………………………………………………………………..45
4.2.1 Suppressed area……………………………………………………………………….45
4.2.2 Endmost area…………………………………………………………………………..46
4.3 Annual changes………………………………………………………………………….47
4.3.1 Suppressed area………………………………………………………………………..48
4.3.2 Endmost area…………………………………………………………………………….49
CHAPTER 5
1.
GRAZING PRESSURE
Grazing gradient from winter camp………………………………………………………….69
2. Types of spatial change in vegetation coverage………………………………………………69
2.1 Negative relationship……………………………………………………………………..70
2.2 Positive relationship………………………………………………………………………70
2.3 Independent relationship………………………………………………………………….70
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2.4 Temporal relationship………………………………………………………………………71
3. Species of each relationship……………………………………………………………………71
3.1 Dominant species…………………………………………………………………………..71
3.2 Negative relationship……………………………………………………………………....72
3.3 Positive relationship…...……………………………………………………………...……72
3.4 Independent relationship……………………………………………………………………72
3.5 Temporal relationship………………………………………………………………….........72
4. PFT of each relationship………………………………………………………………...……...73
4.1 Negative relationship……………………………………………………………………....73
4.2 Positive relationship……………………………………………………………………...73
4.3 Independent relationship……………………………………………………………………73
4.4 Temporal relationship………………………………………………………………………73
CHAPTER 6
THE KEY INFORMANTS`s EVALUATIONS
1. Species characteristics of several important plants…………………………………………….84
1.1 Dominant shrubs……………………………………………………………………………84
1.1.1 Caragana microphylla as a nurse plant…………………………………………………..84
1.1.2 Artemisia frigida………………………………………………………………………………...85
1.1.3 Artemisia adamsii………………………………………………………………………………….85
1.2 Dominant grasses………………………………………………………………………………85
1.2.1 Stipa krylovii……………………………………………………………………………………..85
1.2.2 Leymus chinensis…………………………………………………………………………………86
1.2.3
Cleistogenes squarrosa………………………………………………………………………..86
1.2.4 Agropyron cristatum…………………………………………………………………………………86
1.2.5 Achnatherum splendens………………………………………………………………………….86
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1.3. Dominant herbs...........................................................................................................................87
1.3.1 Carex spp............................................................................................................................87
1.3.2 Allium spp...........................................................................................................................87
1.3.3 Chenopodium acuminathum................................................................................................88
2. Geographical variation…………………………………………………………………………..88
2.1 The north and south zone…………………………………………………………………….88
2.2 Transit zone…………………………………………………………………………………..89
3. The mortality of livestock during dzud………………………………………………………….90
CHAPTER 6 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
1. Why were winter camps selected for study sites?........................................................................92
2. The pastoralists` strategy……………………………………………………………………….92
3. Species composition……………………………………………………………………………93
4. PFT……………………………………………………………………………………………..94
4.1 Life form………………………………………………………………………………….94
4.1.1
Shrubs…………………………………………………………………………………..94
4.1.2
Grasses………………………………………………………………………………….94
4.1.3
Herbs……………………………………………………………………………………...94
5.
Palatability…………………………………………………………………………………..95
5.1.1.
Shrubs……………………………………………………………………………………95
5.1.2
Grasses……………………………………………………………………………………95
5.1.3 Herbs………………………………………………………………………………………95
6.
Grazing effect in regional scale……………………………………………………………..96
6.1 Species composition and dominant species in north and south zone…………………………..96
6.2 Dominant species changes from north to south zone………………………………………….96
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7.
Temporal changes in grazing effect…………………………………………………………98
8.
Grazing effect in local scale………………………………………………………………………100
9.
Other discussions………………………………………………………………………………….102
9.1 Shift of species composition……………………………………………………………….. 102
9.2 Shift from caespitose to rhizomatous……………………………………………………….102
9.3 After the secession of land use……………………………………………………………..102
9.4 Countermeasure to grazing…………………………………………………………………103
9.4.1 In species composition…………………………………………………………………….103
9.4.2 Effect of site condition (nutrient)………………………………………………………….103
9.5 Tolerance for grazing………………………………………………………………………..103
9.6 Suppressed area and endmost site…………………………………………………………..104
CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………..109
Grazing Management in rangeland of Mongolia…………………………………………………109
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………………111
REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………………………112
APPENDIX………………………………………………………………………………………..118
Appendix 1………………………………………………………………………………………...120
Appendix 2………………………………………………………………………………...………124
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Climate
1.1. Seasons in Mongolia
The climatic condition of Mongolia is a relatively dry with longed time days and much
precipitation in summer and little snowfall in winter.
As shown in Figure 1, the mean monthly temperature exceeds 0°C from April to October in
the center of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar. Especially from June to August (summer), the mean
temperature ranges 18~26°C with 40°C of the maximum (AIACC, 2006) and about 65-80% of the
annual precipitation occurs in these three months promoting plant growth throughout Mongolia.
About two thirds of all precipitation and almost all growth of vegetation take place during May to
September. In April and May (spring), however, strong wind of high temperature and low
precipitation dries out soil and inhibits plant growth resulting very harsh condition for livestock. On
the other hand, September and October are warm autumn with small rainfall. The mean monthly
temperature from November to March (winter) is below 0°C and less than 5~10% of the annual
precipitation. Small amount of snow fall covers the ground with
less than 15~20 cm depth in
average throughout winter because of very low air temperature exceeding -40°C in night (AIACC,
2006) and hides fodder from livestock.
1.2. Geographical change in climate condition
Average annual air temperature (°C) at Ulaanbaatar (47°42.108`N, 106°57.018`E),
Mandalgobi (45°45.942`N, 106°16.500`E) and Dalanzadgad (43°34.203`N, 104°25.126`E) is -0.6,
0.7 and 3.8°C and average annual precipitation (mm) is 293.2, 170.6 and 130.8 mm, respectively
(Fujita, 2012), which indicates gradual changes in climate condition from cold and wet in north to
hot and dry in south. According to such climate gradient, vegetation changes from forest to dry
steppe via steppe as shown in Figure 2.
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2 . Vegetation
The Mongolia is divided into six vegetation zones (montane, taiga forest, forest steppe,
steppe, dry steppe and desert steppe) (Yunatov, 1976) which account for 3.0%, 4.1%, 25.1%, 26.1%,
27.2% and 14.5% of territory, respectively (Hilbig, 1995). In generally these vegetation zones
distribute from north to south corresponding with the changes in precipitation as shown in Figure.2.
Except montane zone, almost all grassland covering 128.8 million ha are used for rangeland for
nomadic production by 300 000 pastoralist with 50 million heads of livestock.
In the Mongolian natural rangeland, 2823 vascular plant species of 662 genera, 128 families
have been recorded (Gubanov, 1993). The maximum biomass of pastures in montane, steppe and
dry steppe is 0.5~0.8, 0.3~0.4 and 0.1~0.3 tons/ha respectively (Tserendashi, 2000).
The Mongolian steppe is one of the last relatively undistributed areas of the steppe ecosystem
that once covered a large part of the Eurasian continent (Hilbig, 1995). It is semi-open vegetation
consisting of grasses, sedges, and frequently dwarfs shrubs. Generally the steppes occur on gentle
slopes and plains with a deep loamy soil and good drainage (Staalduinen, 2005).
Xerophytic vegetation is a characteristic feature of the steppe zone. The Mongolian steppe is
different from other steppe zones dominated by shrubs and sub shrubs such as Caragana and
Artemisia. Fertile carbonated and non-carbonated black and sandy soil prevails in this zone. Saline
soil is found along depression and channels as well.
3. Researches on effect of pastoralism on steppe vegetation
The study of spatial distribution of plants in Mongolia was started at early 18th century
(Messerschmidt, 1724). The first vegetation map of Mongolia was reported by Simukov (1935).
Yunatov (1946) partly improved it and published with scale 1:1.5 million. The most fundamental
vegetation formation of Mongolia was described in it. In this period, Mongolian botanists started to
analyse pasture structure and productivity (Bandragcz, 1970; Tserenbaljid, 1972; Dashnyam, 1974
and Davaajamts, 1977). From early 1950`s, seasonality of pastural productivity and sowing
efficiency of pasture were analyzed (Kalinina, 1954; Miroshnichenko, 1967) and morphological
analysis of pastoral plants was performed by Grubov (1955, 1982).
The importance of palatability of perennial grasses and forbs were identified to adopt the
suitable species for modern pastoralism (Dashnyam, 1974; Erdenejav, 1976; Davaajamts, 1988).
Tserendash (1996) started to analyze the resilience of pasture ecosystem under cultivation and
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grazing and Chognii (1990) revealed resilience of natural pasture than cultivated pasture.
4. Nomadic Pastoralism of Mongolia
More than 80% of Mongolian territory is used for pasture. Mongolian pastoralist doesn’t
use fixed settlement but adopts nomadic life using encampment of “ger” to move for yearlong to
reach suitable fodder, water and safety shelter for livestock. As mentioned before, Mongolia has
distinguished 4 seasons and pastoralists can adapt well to such seasonal changes (Konagaya, 2005)
using irregular pattern of movement to maintain the nomadic production, mobility is the essential
trait of pastoralism in Mongolia, which is noteworthy for seasonally changing and concurrently
using encampments, and long range migration under extreme harsh winter to make it across the
border of normal rangeland area into otor area (later describe in detail). Winter camp is established
in a mountain recess leaning slightly (0~8%) and facing south-east to avoid strong and cold
north-west wind. Livestock are moving over a wide area to avoid the concentration of grazing
activity on a certain area which induces site degradation. Therefore, most of pastures suffer the
same degree of degradation by heavy grazing pressure except the area around a winter camp. High
degree of mobility is not only a passive reaction to the natural environment but also an effective
measure to maintain natural resource (Sambuu, 1945; Fujita, 2003). However, in recently, winter
camps are getting near to their convenience such as electricity, market, school and etc.
4.1 Condition of Rangeland of Mongolia
Nomadic pastoralism in Mongolia adopted from more than 5 thousand years which means
that such nomadic production is suitable to adapt seasonal changes in weather condition. However,
current climate changes have to ask such traditional production system to arrange in several aspects
of mobility. Although the seasonal shift of settled pasture is the essential technique of nomadic
pastoralism, the way of movement is still not theoretically managed and largely depends on
pastoralist’s ability and his experiments (Simukov, 1935). Most of pastoralists select the suitable
place in summer season by the availability of water and grass. These two factors mainly control
their movement (Yunatov, 1954).
There are two types of migration such as a short distance migration (normally less than
100km) during growing season and a long distance shift of pasture occurred before and after winter
to secure safety shelter. The immediate causes of the first type short migration are the avoidance of
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pasture degradation by overgrazing and the demand of special element such as salt (Tomortogoo,
1983). The frequency of such shifting settlement is normally 1 or 2 times in forest steppe but
becomes more in dry steppe because of low productivity (Denisov, 1946). The second type long
migration is divided into two types into transmits to winter camp where pastoralist uses normally
and emergency evacuation, otor, to a special reserved pasture to avoid unusually low temperature in
winter. Otor is a very important grazing strategy referred to rapid movement of livestock over
15~20 km away from main camp with only a few pastoralists. Otor is vital for the livestock to gain
weight and increase productivity. It is also ecologically important in order to prevent pasture
degradation and to balance between grazing pressure and pasture`s carrying capacity. Otor areas
established by government can accept 50~100 thousand heads of livestock in average.
4.2 Livestock of Mongolia
Pastoralists keep five kinds of animals, namely camel, cattle, horse, sheep and goat, in
rangelands from the montane to desert steppe. Although most of livestock have gotten relatively
stronger stress tolerance for environmental stresses through both natural selection and artificial
breeding for long years, a large number of livestock die under harsh environment in winter with
heavy snow and strong wind. Since the change of Mongolian economic structure from socialistic
control to free market economy in 1990, livestock numbers started to increase rapidly and had
reached 45.3 million heads in 2009 (National Statistical Office of Mongolia, 2009) as shown in
Figure 3.
Sheep. The Mongolian sheep has adapted to the climatic conditions due to squared and small
body size, fat tail, robust, good development of muscles and bones, and straight legs. The average
weight of slaughter weight is 23.5 kg and yield is 48.1%. A ram, ewe and yearling produce 1.52 kg,
1.23 kg and 1.0 kg of wool, respectively. Ewes produce milk for 35-40 days in June and July.
Goat. Goats are well adapted to diverse environmental conditions and relatively prolific.
They can climb up steep and rocky slope and pluck out short grasses growing in a space among
rocks because of their shape of hoot pointed muzzle and thin and mobile lips. Therefore goat effect
on environmental conditions much more seriously than other kinds of livestock. However, the
number of goats doubled during 1990`s because of great demand of cashmere (National Statistical
Office of Mongolia, 2003). About 3 thousand tons of cashmere produced in Mongolia annually.
Cattle. The Mongolian cattle is small in body size but about 66.9~113.6 thousand tons of
beef are produced annually, and 12.9~14.0 thousand tons are exported.
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Horses. Mongolian horse is also small in body size, but has deep square chest,
well-developed bones and muscles. They are bred for riding, draught and racing. They can survive
harsh condition and produce meat and milk.
Camels. A majority of the camel lives in Gobi region.
4.3 Modern pastoralism of Mongolia
Traditionally, pastoralists migrate seasonally with their livestock through the open pasture to
find good fodder. Most pastoralists look after specific livestock, such as horse pastoralist or cattle
pastoralist. The pastoralists who look after horse and camel must stay far from pastoralists with
small livestock. Many special techniques were developed in traditional pastoralism mostly
depending on the natural condition including vegetation and climate. To protect their livestock from
harsh weather in winter, many pastoralists construct livestock barns at their winter camp sites,
which were often located at the foot of a mountain, facing south, to avoid strong wind. Before
socialism, society consisted of small number of wealthy nomads and large number of poor nomads
(Vreeland, 1957). With the onset of the socialism, livestock were gradually gathered to the
ownership union. By such modernization program, the pastoral production system changed from a
household industry supporting individual family to an important national scale industry come under
the herding sector.
Traditional nomadic pastoralism using several unfixed encampments in growing season and
fixed winter camp was organized by socialist government for both from individual and national
scale management. For example, before the socialism, pasture for emergency excavation in severe
winter was mainly conserved by mutual agreement among restricted local pastoralists which
brought frequent severe struggle. But socialist government established a large scale shelter pasture
for otor and managed it sustainably.
From 1960 to 1990, industrialization of pastoralism including new provision of livestock
transport system, settled shelter (pen), fences for grassland protection, veterinary services,
macinally wells for water supply, delivery system of supplementary fodder and etc. resulted a rapid
growth of livestock number from 14 million to 37 million (Konagaya, 2003).
The market economy newly introduced in Mongolia affected the pastoralists’ livelihoods. As
most of Mongolian concentrated around the capital city for their convenience, pastoralists
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(one-third of the population) were living sparsely over a vast of territory with a great number of
livestock. However, the level of infrastructures including road system, communication facilities,
electricity and ect. were far inferior from the demand of modern commercial transaction.
4.4 Degradation of rangeland
Causes of pasture degradation are summarized as follows (Tserendash and Tserendeleg,
2000): 1. Natural causes such as drought, flood and soil erosion. 2. Overgrazing by massive
gathering of pastoralists to central zone. 3. Cultivation of pastureland and make it fallow. 4. High
density of road network. 5. Mechanic centralization due to decrease in number of drilled wells. 6.
No responsibility exists for law enforcement of land, nature conservation and pasture related laws
and regulations which lead to new areas at risk of degradation and conflicts.
Overgrazing has the biggest cause for land degradation. But in comparison with the present
heads of livestock (45.3 million) and the carrying capacity of Mongolian rangeland (60-70 million)
(Jigjidsuren and Johnson, 2003), there is still a room to allow much more development of animal
husbandry. Because of new economic system introduced in 1990, pastoralists show a tendency to
aggregate around big cities, such as Ulaanbaatar, or main route which make them easy to sell and
transport livestock and by-products and to access social services. High grazing pressure in these
areas seriously disturbs rangeland ecosystem and causes significant changes in vegetation structure.
Over exploitation of above and belowground biomass by heavy grazing for long period induces
indispensable degradation of rangeland ecosystem and also decrease in carrying capacity. When the
overgrazing continues over a long time and is repeated yearly, the physiognomy and species
composition of pasture vegetation are changed by degradation.
4.5 Changes on vegetation by overgrazing
Pasture degradation by overgrazing was found especially around sites where livestock
gathered, such as water sites (Stumpp et al, 2005), livestock camps (Sasaki et al, 2008) and Sum
(town in Mongolia) centers. Changes in plant community structure by grazing are strongly
depending on plant life-form and its palatability (Stenberg et al, 2000). Plant functional type (PFT)
is the nonphylogenetic groupings of species showing close similarities in their response to abiotic
and biotic factors including grazing pressure (Lavorel et al, 1997; Smith et al, 1997). Therefore
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PFT has been widely used for quantitative evaluation of the response of plant community to
environmental disturbances. The vegetation degradation process is generally characterized by
changes in dominant PFT in the community such as gradual increase in abundance of annual
species with a concomitant decrease in perennial species under heavy grazing (Mclntyre and
Lavorel, 2001; Pakeman, 2004; Diaz et al, 2007). Several studies in Mongolia have also reported
such changes (Fernandez-Gimenez and Allen Diaz, 1999, 2001; Sasaki et al, 2005, 2007).
5. Objectives
This study aims to reveal the sustainability of pastoralism in the north-central Eurasian
grassland. In order to achieve the aim, assessment of the impacts of grazing pressure on rangeland
vegetation structure was performed by geographical and local scales in the central Mongolia from
steppe to dry-steppe. So, the main objective is to clarify the effect of grazing pressure on vegetation
structure of rangeland in Mongolia. In order to carry out this objective to clarify:
1. The effect of grazing on vegetation structure around winter camp (local scale)
2. Geological differences in vegetation structure due to climatic differences (regional scale), and their
temporal (year to year) variations.
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CHAPTER 2: MATERIALS AND METHODS
1. Study area
As shown in Figure 4, a large typical steppe zone is extending from the east end to the middle
of Mongolia, and is expanding to the north along Tuul river. Therefore, the center of Mongolia is
the most suitable part for the study to clarify the grazing effects on the plant community of the
typical steppe zone with a great variety of climate condition. Then the typical steppe zone from the
northern end in central Mongolia (Darkhan city, N 490 24.853; E 1050 58.757) to the southern end
(Mandalgobi, N 450 47.319; E 1060 10.192) was selected as the study area of this field survey
(Figure 4). It consists of three provinces, Darkhan Uul, Tov and Dundgobi. Grazing pressure
increased recently in some parts of pastures of Tov province, because of the concentration of
pastoralists around the capital locating only 200km east from Tov province.
2. Study sites
From 36 winter camps established in pasture dominated by Caragana shrub, which is the
typical widely dominated shrub indicating dry steppe condition, twenty-one winter camps (Figure
4) were selected in 2009 for the study sites according to the following criteria. 1. Similar
topography such as vast flat plain with easy slope around low relief knoll, 2. Similar period of use
and 3. Similar composition of livestock (dominated by sheep). Location of these winter camps and
nearest meteorological stations (Darkhan, Hustai, Zuunmod, Bayan Onjuul, Adaatsag and
Mandalgobi with numbered 1-6, respectively) were shown in Figure 4.
Most of selected winter camps were located in a slightly leaning recess near mountain ridge
and faced south-east to avoid strong cold wind. From No.1 to No.12 winter camps were established
on a gentle slope of hillside (Figure 5a). No.13 and above winter camps were in a lowland of large
plain as illustrated in Figure 5b (redrawn from Nachinshonhor, 2008). Soil type of most winter
camps was the typical Kastanozems (Haase, 1983). Location of each study site was measured by
GPS (GARMIN, GPSmap 60CS).
From the interview with the owner and neighbor(s) in 2009 and 2010, information about
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winter camps, such as duration period of rangeland occupation by the winter camp and their
livelihood were collected. Locations in latitude, longitude and altitude, administrative (name of
Sum and province) and name of owner, the vegetation character of each winter camp were shown
in Table 1 and Appendix 1 in detail.
Table 2 shows the heads of each kind of livestock and these numbers were converted into
sheep heads and shown in the right end column, according to the equivalent coefficients of sheep
used by the National Statistical Office of Mongolia, such as 7, 5, 6 and 0.9 for horse, camel, cattle
and goat, respectively.
3. Plant functional type (PFT)
Identification of plant species name and its life form (plant functional type; PFT) such as
shrub, herb and grass of perennial or annual were followed by Yunatov (1976), Grubov (1982) and
Ulziikhutag (1985).
Life form
Shrub is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually less than 1
m. Grass is the dominant vegetation in many habitats. Many types of animals eat grass as their
main food. The meristem locates near the bottom of grass and it is effective for quick recovery after
cropping of the top. Most of shrub and grasses are perennial and some of herbs are annual plant.
Herb`s flowering period is early summer.
Annuality
A perennial plant can live for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a
plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also widely used to distinguish plants
with little or no woody growth from trees and shrubs, which are also technically perennials.
Perennials, especially small flowering plants, that grow and bloom over the spring and summer, die
back every autumn and winter, and then return in the spring from their root-stock, are known as
herbaceous perennials. Many perennials produce relatively large seeds, which have an advantage
with larger seedlings. Some annual plants produce many seeds in one season to secure the
establishment of the next generation. While some (polycarpic) perennial plants are not under such
pressure to produce large numbers of seeds but can produce seeds over many years.
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Palatability
These plants in pasture must have some tolerance for grazing by chemical
countermeasures. Such plants are unpalatable and free from grazing pressure. On the
other hand, quality and quantity of palatable plants are very important for livestock
production. Palatability was classified into five categories, namely preferred, desirable,
undesirable, not consumable and toxic (Jigjidsuren and Johnson, 2003; Damiran, 2005).
Plant sought by particular livestock as a major diet and consumed far in excess was
classified into preferred (P), plant readily eaten but less portion than preferred plant
was classified into desirable (D), plant eaten as minor diet was undesirable (U).
Moreover, plant not eaten intentionally, and plant with toxic substances were classified
into not consumable (N) and toxic (T), respectively. These five categories were
grouped into two groups of palatable (P+D) and unpalatable (U+N+T).
4.
Meteorological data
Six meteorological stations (Darkhan, Hustai, Zuunmod, BayanOnjuul, Adaatsag and
Mandalgobi) shown in Figure 4 were selected from N49024.853`, E105058.757 to N45047.319`,
E106010.192` (Table 3).
5. Sampling design and collected data
The field survey was carried out in the growing season (from July to October) in 2009, 2010
and 2011. Three parallel lines were set from the center of the winter camp and seven plots were
established along each line at 25, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 (suppressed area) and 1600m (endmost
area) from the origin, the winter camp (Figure 6). Total number of plots was 441 (3 lines x 7 plots x
21 winter camps). Four subplots were put within each plot as shown in Figure 6. Ground coverage
(%) and the maximum height (cm) of each species were recorded at four subplots in each plot;
resulting 1764 subplots (441 plots x 4 subplots) were surveyed at each winter camp.
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6. Data analysis
Classifications of 144 plots at each winter camp and 21 winter camps were performed by
cluster analysis (TWINSPAN; Hill. 1979b) using PC-ORD for Windows ver.3.0 (McCune and
Mefford, 1997) with species composition and its coverage. Factors affecting difference in plant
community structure were analyzed by ANOVA in relation with site location and distance from
winter camp.
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CHAPTER 3:
WEATHER CONDITION
1. Weather condition during the experimental period
Monthly mean temperature and amount of precipitation of 6 meteorological stations are shown
in Figure 7 for 4 census years.
1.1 Seasonal changes
As the average trend of weather condition, a seasonal change of climate at Hustai National
Park was shown for four years in Figure 8. Mean air temperature increased from 2.4oC (March) to
8.3oC (May) at the beginning of spring, but total precipitation per month remained at very low
level almost as same as winter season until the beginning of summer. Precipitation falls mainly in
summer, renewing the soil moisture supply. In June, rainfall exceeded 70 mm/month and mean air
temperature increased to 15.8oC. In autumn, the mean temperature decreased from 8.9oC
(September) to -10.4oC (November) while precipitation decreased from 10.7mm to 3.6mm in these
two months, respectively. The mean temperature fluctuated between the -19.7 oC and -22.3 oC in
winter from December to February.
The mean annual temperature and total precipitation were 3.1 oC and 20.7 mm, 16.3 oC and
81.2mm, -1.5 oC and 9.1mm and -20.9 oC and 2.2mm in spring, summer, autumn and winter in 2009,
respectively. The mean annual temperature and total precipitation were -1.0oC and 9.2 mm, 17.3 oC
and 72.9mm, 0.9 oC and 3.6 mm and -20.6 oC and 2.5mm in spring, summer, autumn and winter in
2010, respectively. The mean annual temperature and total precipitation were 0.8 oC and 8.3 mm,
16.8 oC and 67.7 mm, -0.2 oC and 10.6 mm and -19.6 oC and 2.2mm in spring, summer, autumn and
winter in 2011, respectively.
1.2 Yearly changes
28
The period of growing season with air temperature higher than 13.8oC was five months
(from April to August) in every year of this experimental period as shown in Figure 8. In this
growing season, total amount of precipitation was 161.8mm (84.9% of total annual precipitation),
189.6mm (81.5%), 167.0mm (81.8%) and 198.9mm (82.8%) from 2008 to 2011, respectively.
Seasonal changes in air temperature were relatively stable among 4 years but remarkable variation
was observed in temporal distribution of precipitation. The lowest amount of precipitation was in
2008 (190.4mm) and highest was in 2011 (240.3mm). The minimum air temperature was recorded
during census year in January 2009, -40.7oC and the maximum temperature observed in July 2009,
36.8oC. The annual temperature range was 72.2oC, 76.5 oC, 81.7 oC and 73.4 oC in 2008, 2009, 2010
and 2011, respectively. 91.1%, 89.5%, 90.5% and 85.5% of annual precipitation occurred in a
growing season from 2008 to 2011 then resulting hot and wet summer and cold and dry autumn,
winter and spring.
To evaluate weather condition from both temperature and humidity, the Kawakita-Kira’s
aridity-humidity index (AH) (Kira, 1977) was calculated by the following equation.
AH=
P
W+20
(W≤100)
Where P is the total amount of precipitation and W is the average air temperature. AH indicates the
weather condition of rainforest, forest, savanna, steppe and desert as more than 10, 10-7, 7-5, 5-3
and less than 3, respectively (Kira, 1977). As shown in Figure 9, AH did not show any difference
among four years and the mean of AH, 3.1, indicated steppe condition.
1.3 Geographical changes
The average air temperature and total precipitation of six meteorological stations were shown
in Figure 10 and Figure 11, respectively. From north to south, the total precipitation decreased
gradually, as the maximum value, 344.0mm in the north end site, Darkhan, to the minimum value,
99.1mm in the south end site, Mandalgobi. On the other hand, the average air temperature showed
steep increase toward south from Hustai and Zunmod (-0.7 ～ -0.9oC) except the north end
29
montane site, Darkhan. However, the mean air temperature in a growing season shown in Figure 12
was almost the same level for 6 stations. In the north end site, it was 15.10C and it increased from
12.10C (Hustai) to 15.0 0C (Mandalgobi), while annual precipitation slowly decreased from 53.7
mm (Darkhan) to 16.04 mm (Mandalgobi). In this period, more than 82.5% of annual precipitation
was recorded throughout six meteorological stations for four years in Figure 13.
AH index (Figure 9) showed a different trend from both air temperature and precipitation.
From the north end, Darkhan to the center, Zuummod, AH index remained almost the same level,
around 4 with the maximum value 5.1 in Darkhan which indicated the border between savanna and
steppe. However, it decreased drastically less than 3 in Bayan Onjuul showing the north hedge of
desert condition.
1.4 Difference among sites
The AH index in 2009 was 3.8, 5.0, 4.3, 2.6, 1.9 and 1.0 in Darkhan, Hustai, Zuunmod,
Bayan Onjuul, Adaatsag and Mandalgobi, respectively (Figure 9). While AH index was 4.6, 4.1, 3.8,
1.8, 2.3 and 1.2 in 2010 and 5.1, 4.1, 4.4, 3.3, 2.4 and 1.5 in 2011, respectively. Yearly variations
for 3 years were 2.3, 0.9, 1.0, 2.0, 0.4 and 0.5 respectively from north to south, which mean higher
variation in the northern area than in the southern area. Especially in middle part of study area
showed very high variation of climate condition which can vary from wet northern area to dry
southern area. As shown Figure 10, the AH index was decreased from Hustai (5.0) to Mandalgobi
(1.0) through geographical trend but in most north place (Darkhan) the index was 3.8 thenincreased
from Hustai in 2009. However, this index slowly decreased from Darkhan (4.6) to Mandalgobi
(1.2), but it perceptible decreased in Bayan Onjuul in 2010. Trend of this index from Darkhan (5.0)
to Mandalgobi (1.5) slowly decreased but perceptible decrease in this trend was observed in Hustai.
It shows that the extreme climate condition and of central Mongolia.
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
CHAPTER 4: VEGETATION STRUCTURE
1. Species composition
Ninety-five species of 60 genera and 26 families were recorded throughout 21 study sites in
four census years as shown in Table 4.
Among 26 families, both Compositae and Graminae had the largest number of species (15)
comprising 15.8% of the total species number, and more than half of species (53.6%) were
belonging to the top five families including Leguminosae, Rosaceae and Chenopodiaceae (Table 5).
However, the total vegetation coverage of these families showed 53.7% (15.8%, 15.8%, 8.4%,
7.4% and 6.3% of Compositae, Graminae, Leguminosae, Rosaceae and Chenopodiaceae,
respectively).
Among 60 genera, 14 genera were the dominant group of genus comprising 54.3% of species
number. Above all, Artemisia was the largest genus in species number (9) and also showed the
highest value of vegetation coverage (10%).
Among 95 species, 12 species, namely Caragana microphylla, Artemisia frigida, Stipa
krylovii, Agropyron cristatum, Leymus chinensis, Achnatherum splendens, Cleistogenes squarrosa,
Artemisia adamsii, Carex spp., Allium spp., Peganum nigelastrum and Chenopodium acuminathum,
were the dominant species throughout the study area. Biology and photograph of these species were
shown in Appendix 2.
2. Plant functional types and palatability
Ninety-five species were classified into three plant life forms, namely 9 species as shrub, 15
species as grass and 71 species as herb as shown in Figure 14. Compositae and Graminae had 15
species and Leguminae had 8 species. Rosaceae and Chenopodiaceae had 7 and 6 species
41
respectively. As shown in Table 5, 51 species of these top five families were classified into 3 plant
life form, mainly 7 species for shrub, 15 species for grass and 29 species for herbs. The life form of
all species which occurred in study area in census years was shown in Appendix 3. As shown in the
Table 5, all species of Graminae were grass, Rosaceae and Chenopodiaceae was herb. On the other
hand Compositae and Leguminae contained shrub and herb.
According to 3 life form, 2 annuality and 2 palatability, all plant species can classified into 12
groups (Table 6), that is called as PFT (plant functional type) in this research (Figure 15). As shown
in Table 6, annual shrub is conflict classification. Then the PFT in this research is 10 that are
perennial palatable shrub, perennial unpalatable shrub, perennial palatable grass, perennial
unpalatable grass, annual palatable grass, annual unpalatable grass, perennial palatable herb,
perennial unpalatable herb, annual palatable herb and annual unpalatable herb.
All grasses (15 species) were palatable. But only 4 and 16 species from 9 shrubs and 71 herbs
were palatable and more than half of them (5 shrubs and 46 herbs) were unpalatable. The rest 9
herbs were unknown for their palatability. As shown in Figure 15, palatable and unpalatable species
could be classified into 7 categories, such as palatable shrub(4), palatable perennial grass(13),
palatable perennial herb(15), palatable annual herb(1), unpalatable shrub(5), unpalatable perennial
herb(34) and unpalatable annual herb(12).
Three of four palatable shrubs were Caragana (C. microphylla. C. stenophylla and C.
leucophylla and another palatable shrub were Artemisia frigida. The average coverage of these
palatable shrubs was 2.1% (4.1%, 0.1%, 0.1%), and 0.01%, respectively. Four and three species of
13 palatable perennial grass were Stipa (Stipa krylovii, S. baicalensis, S. klemenzii and S. sibirica)
and Poa (Poa botryoides, P. attenuata and Poa spp.), respectively.
The total amount of vegetation coverage of palatable species was 13.0% in average of 21
study sites, and more than 15.2% of the rangeland was covered by unpalatable and unknown
species. The most dominant unpalatable PFT was herb, including Artemisia (Artemisia adamsii, A.
mongolica and A. scoparia), Thalictrum (Thalictrum petaloideum, Th. foetidum and Th. simplex),
Potentilla (Potentilla acaulis, P. bifurca and P. viscosa) and Urtica (Urtica cannabina and Urtica
sp).
42
3. Geographical changes
3.1 Study site classification
By the TWINSPAN cluster analysis with the floristic composition of study sites combining all
1746 subplot data into the representative species composition of each winter camp, 21 winter
camps were classified into several groups with a key species shown in Figure 16. In 2009 (Figure
16a), No.1 to No.10 winter camps belonged into one group with a representative specie of
Heteropapus hispidus and Leymus chinensis, and other winter camps over No. 11 were classified
into another group. The former 10 winter camps were located in northern part of steppe and the rest
of them were in southern area. Almost the same classification was resulted in 2011 (Figure 16c)
except for No.2 winter camp. The representative species of this classification was also Heteropapus
hispidus. However, in 2010 (Figure 16b), three winter camps (No.7, No.8 and No.9) which
belonged to the northern group in other years were classified into the group of southern winter
camps over No.11. From these results, the location of border line between two major clusters was
shifting in accordance with yearly fluctuation of weather condition (Figure 17), especially the total
amount of precipitation. As a result, 21 winter camps were clustered into three major parts, such as
north, south and transit zones, according to their geographical location as shown in Figure 17. The
width of the transit zone was about 90km. All species name in these three zones (north, transit and
south) were listed up in Appendix 4.
The general descriptions of vegetation in 3 zones were shown in Table 7. During census years,
82, 51 and 49 species were recorded in north, transit and south zones, respectively. But, only a part
of them could identify their palatability as shown in Table7 with number of total species within 74,
49 and 43 of these species were possible to determine the PFT in north, transit and south zones,
respectively. As comparison of PFT among 3 zones, in north zone the percent of PFT`s were 5.4,
5.4, 17.6, 16.2, 43.2, 1.4 and 10.8% in shrub perennial palatable, shrub perennial unpalatable, grass
perennial palatable, herb perennial palatable, herb perennial unpalatable, herb annual palatable and
herb annual unpalatable, respectively. In transit zone, there were 6.1, 8.2, 16.3, 16.3, 36.7, 2.0 and
14.3% in shrub perennial palatable, shrub perennial unpalatable, grass perennial palatable, herb
perennial palatable, herb perennial unpalatable, herb annual palatable and herb annual unpalatable,
respectively while in south zone were 7.0, 7.0, 18.6, 18.6, 39.5 and 9.3% in shrub perennial
palatable, shrub perennial unpalatable, grass perennial palatable, herb perennial palatable, herb
perennial unpalatable and herb annual unpalatable, respectively. The herb annual palatable species
wasn’t occurred in south area.
43
3.2
Dominant species
Dominant species in the north zone were Chenopodium acuminathum (13.9%), Artemisia
frigida (5.5%), Caragana microphylla (4.7%), Artemisia adamsii (2.2%) and Leymus chinensis
(2.0%) as shown in Table 8. In the transit zone, Artemisia adamsii (17.4%), Carex pediformis
(5.0%), Caragana microphylla (2.8%), Leymus chinensis (2.5%) and Chenopodium acuminathum
(2.4%) and in the south zones, Chenopodium acuminathum (9.7%), Caragana microphylla (4.1%),
Allium Mongolichum (2.4%), Achnatherum splendens (1.9%) and Salsola collina (0.2%) dominated.
Among these dominant species, Caragana microphylla and Chenopodium acuminathum were
common in three zones, and Artemisia adamsii and Leymus chinensis were dominate in the north
and the transit zones.
The 66.7% and 33.3% of the number of dominant species in the north zone were palatable
and unpalatable, respectively. While the total coverage of palatable and unpalatable species was
38.5% and 61.5%, which suggested species diversity of unpalatable plants were higher in the north
zone than palatable plants.
The species recorded only in the north, the transit and the south zones were shown in Table
9, namely, seventeen, five and four species were peculiar species, respectively and 19 species (one
shrub, 13 grasses and 5 herbs) of these 26 species were unpalatable, while rest of one shrub, 2
grasses and 4 herbs were palatable. Five species (Stipa baicalensis, S. sibirica, Rhapontichum
uniflora, Potentilla acaulis and Goniolimon speciosum) and two species (Allium Mongolichum and
Peganum nigelastrum) were recorded in all census years in north and south zones, respectively.
Stipa baicalensis, S. sibirica grasses and another 5 species are herbs.
4. Grazing effects on vegetation structure
4.1 Suppressed area and endmost area
To analyze the effect of grazing pressure on vegetation structure, 18 (6 x 3) subplots located
within 800m from the winter camp were considered as the vegetation growing under livestock
grazing (noted as suppressed area) and 3 subplots at 1600m from the winter camp could represent
the natural vegetation structure without heavy grazing (endmost area).
44
As shown in Table 10, 77 species of 51 genera and 22 families were recorded in the
suppressed area, while 52 species of 37 genera and 16 families were recorded in the endmost area
from all study area in three census years. Among 77 species in the suppressed area, 4, 5, 10, 15, 32,
1 and 10 species were perennial palatable shrub, perennial unpalatable shrub, perennial palatable
grass, perennial palatable herb, perennial unpalatable herb, annual palatable herb and annual
unpalatable herb, respectively. Among 52 species in the endmost area, 3, 1, 10, 8, 22, 1 and 7
species were perennial palatable shrub, perennial unpalatable shrub, perennial palatable grass,
perennial palatable herb, perennial unpalatable herb, annual palatable herb and annual unpalatable
herb, respectively.
4.2. Geographical difference
Table 11 shows PFT composition of the north and south zones. In the suppressed area, 72 and
43 species were recorded in the north and the south zones and in the endmost area, 51 and 32
species were recorded in the north and the south zones, respectively.
4.2.1 Suppressed area
Among 72 species in the north zone, 30 (0.1%), 12 (0.3%) and 9 (0.3%) species were
unpalatable perennial herb, palatable perennial grass and palatable perennial herb, respectively.
Seven unpalatable annual herbs (1.5%), 4 palatable shrub (2.3%), 3 unpalatable shrub (0.6%), 1
unpalatable annual herb (0.0%) and 6 species (0.1%) were impossible to determine palatability.
Among 43 species in the south zone, 15 (0.2%), 8 (0.1%) and 7 (0.3%) species were unpalatable
perennial herb, palatable perennial herb and palatable perennial grass, respectively. Five (0.3%), 3
(0.6%), 3 (0.0%) and 2 (0.0%) species were unpalatable annual herb, palatable shrub, unpalatable
shrub and impossible to determine the palatability, respectively (Table 11).
The total number of species in suppressed area was higher in north than south zone. In both
zones, the number of species of unpalatable perennial herbs is high, but the average coverage was
very low between 0.1 and 0.2% in north and south, respectively. Palatable grass species was not so
different between north (9 species) and south (8 species) zones but the average coverage of them
0.3% and 0.1% in north and south, respectively. The number of palatable shrub species were 4
(2.3%) and 3 (0.6%) in north and south, respectively. The number of unpalatable shrub species
45
wasn’t different in both zones but the average coverage of them was 0.6% and 0.0% in north and
south zones, respectively. Unpalatable annual herb`s number was 7 and 5 but, the average coverage
of them was 1.5% and 0.3% in north and south zones, respectively.
The dominant species in the suppressed area of the north zone were Leymus chinensis,
Artemisia frigida, Artemisia adamsii, Carex spp, Stipa krylovii and Chenopodium acuminathum.
While Caragana microphylla, Achnatherum splendens, Allium Mongolichum and Chenopodium
acuminathum dominated in the south zone.
Table 12 shows the result of two-way analysis of variance for the coverage of each dominant
species in suppressed area between the north and the south zones. Excepting Caragana microphylla
dominated in both the north and the south zones, all dominant species showed significant difference
of their coverage between the north and the south zone. Artemisia frigida showed higher coverage
in the north (4.5%) than the south zone (0.4%). Stipa krylovii and Agropyron cristatum distributed
throughout whole study area, but the coverage decreased significantly from north to south.
Cleistogenes squarrosa, and Leymus chinensis could dominate only in the north zone. Stipa krylovii,
Achnatherum splendens, and Artemisia adamsii could grow in all study sites but coverage was
higher in the north than the south zone. Carex spp showed higher coverage in the north than the
south zone. Allium Mongolichum was growing only in the south zone with high yearly variation
caused by the change of precipitation. Chenopodium acuminathum were different in 25-800m from
center of winter camp along from north to south. Peganum nigelastrum occurred with low coverage
near the centre of winter camp only in the south zone.
4.2.2 Endmost area
Among 51 species in the north zone, 22 (0.2%), 11 (0.2%) and 10 (0.6%) species were
unpalatable perennial herb, palatable perennial herb and palatable grass, respectively (Table 10).
Three (4.7%) palatable shrub, 2 (0.5%) unpalatable shrub, 2 (0.2%) unpalatable annual herb and 1
(0.0%) palatable annual herb were recorded in endmost area in north zone. Among 32 species in the
south zone, 11 (0.1%) unpalatable perennial herb, 7 (0.1%) palatable perennial herb, 5 (0.5%)
palatable perennial grass, 3 (1.5%) palatable shrub, 2 (0.0%) unpalatable shrub, 1 (0.4%)
unpalatable annual herb and 3 (0.1%) of them were impossible to determine the palatability (Table
11).
The total number of species in endmost area was higher in north than south zone. In both
zones, the number of unpalatable perennial herb was highest (22 and 11 in north and south,
respectively) but the coverage of them was 0.2% and 0.1% in north and south, respectively. The
46
number of palatable perennial herb was 11 and 7 but the average coverage of them was 0.2% and
0.1% in north and south zone, respectively. The number of palatable perennial grass was 10 and 5
but the average coverage of them was 0.6% and 0.5% in north and south zone, respectively. The
number of palatable shrub was 3 and 3 but average coverage of the 4.7% and 1.5% in north and
south zone, respectively. The number of unpalatable shrub was 2 and 2 while the average coverage
of them 0.5% and 0.0%, unpalatable annual herb was 2 and 1 and the average coverage of them
was 0.2% and 0.4% in north and south zone, respectively. The palatable annual species wasn’t
recorded in south zone.
By the two-way analysis of variance for the coverage as shown in Table 13, excepting
Caragana microphylla, Achnatherum splendens and Chenopodium acuminathum showing no
significant difference, Artemisia frigida, Agropyron cristatum, Cleistogenes squarrosa, Leymus
chinensis, Stipa krylvoii, Artemisia adamsii and Carex spp had higher coverage in the north zone
than the south zone. On the other hand, only Allium spp showed reverse significant changes in its
coverage.
4.3
Annual changes
The annual change of average coverage of dominant 12 species was shown in Table 14.
In north, the coverage of Caragana microphylla was 4.9, 3.9 and 5.6% while in south zone 3.7, 4.9
and 4.0% in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively. The coverage of Artemisia frigida was 5.7, 4.6 and
7.1% in north, 0.1, 0.1 and 0.1% in south in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively. The coverage of
this species fluctuates in north while it wasn’t fluctuating in south zone. In north zone, the coverage
of Stipa krylovii was 1.1, 0.8 and 2.3% while it was 0.1, 0.1 and 0.2% in south. The coverage of
Agropyron cristatum was 0.8, 0.3 and 1.1% in north, 0.0, 0.0 and 0.1% in south while the coverage
of Leymus chinensis was 0.5, 2.1 and 3.6% in north, very low with 0.0% in 3 years in south from
2009 to 2011, respectively. In north, the coverage of Cleistogenes squarrosa was 0.4, 0.6 and 1.0 %
while in south it was 0.0, 0.1 and 0.0%, in north, the coverage of Achnatherum splendens was 0.0,
0.0 and 0.1% was and in south 0.0, 0.1 and 0.0%, in north the coverage of Artemisia adamsii was
2.8, 0.9 and 2.8% while in south was 0.1, 0.2 and 0.2% in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively. The
average coverage of Carex spp was 1.3, 1.4 and 3.2% in north, 0.0, 0.2 and 0.2% in south in 2009,
2010 and 2011, respectively. The Allium Mongolichum was absent in north while the average
coverage was 0.3, 1.5 and 6.3% in 2009-2011, respectively. Peganum nigelastrum was absent in
north while the average coverage was 0.0, 0.0 and 0.2% in south, the average coverage of
Chenopodium acuminathum was 10.6, 8.9 and 21.9% in north, 5.5, 5.8 and 17.4% in 2009, 2010
and 2011, respectively (Table 14).
47
4.3.1 Suppressed area
In the north zone, 54 species of 29 genera and 18 families, 53 species of 31 genera and 20
families and 56 species of 24 genera and 16 families were recorded in 2009, 2010 and 2011,
respectively. Among 54 species which recorded in 2009, 17 (0.1%) unpalatable perennial herbs, 10
(0.4%) palatable grasses, 8 (0.7%) palatable perennial herbs, 6 (3.3%) unpalatable annual herbs, 4
(2.2%) palatable perennial shrubs, 2 (1.6%) unpalatable perennial shrubs, 1 (0.0%) palatable annual
herb and 6 (0.1%) species were impossible to determine the palatability. Among 53 species which
recorded in 2010, 22 (0.0%) unpalatable perennial herbs, 10 (0.3%) palatable grasses, 8 (0.2%)
palatable perennial herbs, 5 (1.6%) unpalatable annual herbs, 3 (2.5%) palatable shrubs, 3 (0.6%)
unpalatable shrubs, 1 (0.0%) palatable annual herb and 1 (0.0%) was impossible to determine the
palatability. Among 56 species which recorded in 2011, 23 (0.1%) unpalatable perennial herbs, 11
(0.5%) palatable grasses, 8 (0.6%) palatable perennial herbs, 4 (5.5%) unpalatable annual herbs, 3
(3.8%) palatable shrubs, 2 (1.9%) unpalatable perennial shrubs, 1 (0.0%) palatable annual herb and
4 (0.0%) were impossible to determine the palatability (Table 15).
In the south zone, 27 species of 19 genera and 11 families, 29 species of 20 genera and 11
families and 33 species of 25 genera and 15 families were recorded in 2009, 2010 and 2011,
respectively. Among 27 species which recorded in south zone in 2009, 7 (0.0%) unpalatable
perennial herbs, 6 (0.4%) palatable grasses, 4 (0.2%) palatable perennial herbs, 3 (1.2%)
unpalatable annual herbs, 3 (0.8%) palatable shrubs, 2 (0.1%) unpalatable perennial shrubs and 2
(0.2%) were impossible to determine the palatability. Ten (0.0%) unpalatable perennial herbs, 5
(0.5%) palatable perennial grasses, 5 (0.2%) palatable perennial herbs, 4 (1.2%) unpalatable annual
herbs, 3 (1.3%) palatable shrubs and 2 (0.0%) unpalatable shrubs were recorded in 2010. Among 33
species which recorded in 2011, 11 (0.1%) unpalatable perennial herbs, 7 (0.4%) palatable
perennial grasses, 6 (0.9%) palatable perennial herbs, 4 (5.6%) unpalatable annual herbs, 3 (1.1%)
palatable perennial shrubs and 2 (0.1%) unpalatable shrubs were (Table 14).
Table 16 shows the result of one-way analysis of variance for the coverage of each dominant
species among the census years in the north and the south zones. In the north zone, all dominant
species showed no significant difference of their coverage among census years. While,
Chenopodium acuminathum and Allium Mongolichum showed significant difference of their
coverage among census years in the south zone, suggesting that their growth had keen relation with
the amount of precipitation.
48
4.3.2 Endmost area
In the north zone, 26 species of 17 genera and 11 families, 33 species of 19 genera and 11
families and 37 species of 22 genera and 12 families were recorded in 2009, 2010 and 2011,
respectively (Table 16). Among 26 species which recorded in 2009, 8 (0.3%) palatable grasses, 6
(1.7%) unpalatable perennial herbs, 4 (0.9%) palatable perennial herbs, 3 (7.6%) palatable shrubs, 2
(2.4%) unpalatable shrubs, 2 (1.4) unpalatable annual herbs and 1 (0.0%) palatable annual herb was.
There were 11 (0.2%) unpalatable perennial herbs, 7 (1.0%) palatable grasses, 7 (0.2%) palatable
perennial herbs, 3 (4.1%) palatable shrubs, 2 (0.3%) unpalatable annual herbs, 1 (0.3%) unpalatable
perennial shrub, 1 (0.0%) palatable annual herb and impossible to determine the palatability in
2010. Eleven (0.4%) unpalatable perennial herbs, 10 (1.5%) palatable grasses, 8 (0.4%) palatable
perennial herbs, 3 (7.1%) palatable shrubs, 3 (0.9%) unpalatable annual herbs, 1 (2.4%) unpalatable
perennial shrubs and 1 (0.0%) impossible to determine the palatability were recorded in 2011(Table
17).
In the south zone, 15 species of 25 genera and 6 families, 24 species of 18 genera and 9
families and 20 species of 14 genera and 8 families were recorded in 2009, 2010 and 2011,
respectively. Three (3.0%) palatable shrubs, 3 (2.8%) unpalatable annual herbs, 3 (0.2%) palatable
perennial herbs, 1 (0.3%) unpalatable perennial herbs, 1 (0.2%) palatable grasses and 1 (0.0%)
unpalatable shrubs were recorded in 2009. Eight (0.1%) unpalatable perennial herbs, 5 (0.2%)
palatable perennial 3 shrubs, 5 grasses and 4 herbs were palatable and 10 herbs and 1 annual plat
were unpalatable in 2010. Six (1.8%) palatable perennial herbs, 5 (0.2%) palatable grasses, 3
(2.5%) palatable shrubs, 3 (0.5%) unpalatable perennial herbs, 2 (6.4%) unpalatable annual herbs
and 1 (0.5%) unpalatable perennial shrubs were recorded in 2011(Table 17).
Table 18 shows the result of one-way analysis of variance for the average coverage of each
dominant species among census years in the north and the south zones. In the north zone, only
Stipa krylovii showed significant difference of its coverage among census years. In the south zone,
only Allium Mongolichum showed significant difference of its coverage among census years. Both
of them were palatable. Other species showed no significant difference of their coverage among
these years.
49
50
Chenopodiaceae
Artemisia mongolica Fisch. Ex Nakai
Artemisia palustris L.
19
Artemisia macrocephala Jacquem.
18
17
Artemisia frigida Willd.
Artemisia
16
Compositae
Artemisia dracunculus L.
15
Salsola collina Pall.
Artemisia adamsii Bess.
Salsola
13
Kochia prostrata (L.) Schrad.
Chenopodium sp
Chenopodium aristatatum L.
14
Kochia
12
11
10
Chenopodium album L.
Chenopodium
9
Stellaria dichotoma L.
Chenopodium acuminatum Willd.
Stellaria
Silene repens Patr.
Silene jenescensis Willd.
Arenaria capillaris Poir.
Lonicera sp
Lappula sp
Species name
Lappula myosotis
8
7
6
Caryophylaceae Silene
Arenaria
4
5
Lonicera
Lappula
Genus name
3 Cafrifoliaceae
# Family name
1
Boraginaceae
2
Table 4. The list of all species which recorded in census years
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
N
+
+
+
+
+
T
2009
+
+
+
+
+
+
S
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
N
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
T
2010
+
+
+
+
+
S
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
N
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
T
2011
+
+
+
+
+
+
S
UP
UP
UP
P
UP
UP
UP
P
UP
UP
UP
UP
UP
UP
UP
P
Unknown
Unknown
Pala
tablity
UP
annual
shrub
annual
shrub
herb
shrub
annual
herb
annual
annual
annual
annual
herb
herb
herb
herb
herb
annual
Life
form
herb
51
Leauzea
Rhaponticum
Saussurea
Serratula
Taraxacum
24
25
26
27
28
38
37
36
Graminae
Cleistogenes
Achnatherum
Erodium
Gentiana
Gentianaceae
35
Carex
Ephedra
Cyperaceae
Ptilotrichum
34 Ephedraceae
33
32
31
Cleistogenes sp
Achnatherum splendens (Trin) Nevski.
Erodium stephanianum Willd.
Gentiana sp
Ephedra sp
Carex pediformis C.A. Mey
Carex korshinskyi Kom.
Ptilotrichum canescens C. A. Mey
Dontostemon integrifolius (L.) C.A.Mey.
Dontostemon
30
Cruciferae
Convolvulus ammanii Desr.
29 Convolvulaceae Convolvulus
Taraxcum sp
Serratula centauroides L.
Saussurea salicifolia (L.)
Rhaponticum uniflora (L.) DC.
Leauzea uniflora (L.) Holub
Heteropappus hispidus (Thunbg.) Less.
Heteropapus
23
Artemisia scoparia Waldst. Et Kit.
Artemisia sp
Artemisia
21 Compositae
Species name
Artemisia pectinata Pall.
22
Genus name
# Family name
20
Table 4 (continue). The list of all species which recorded in census years
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
N
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
T
2009
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
S
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
N
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
T
2010
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
S
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
N
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
T
2011
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
S
P
P
UP
Unknown
UP
P
P
UP
P
UP
Unknown
UP
UP
P
UP
UP
Unknown
UP
Pala
tablity
UP
grass
grass
annual
herb
herb
herb
herb
herb
annual
herb
herb
herb
herb
herb
herb
herb
herb
shrub
Life
form
annual
52
Koeleria
Leymus
41
42
Iridaceae
Scutlera
Astragalus
57 Leguminosae
Lophanthus
56
55
Astragalus sp
Scutlera sp
Lophanthus chinensis (Raf.) Benth.
Leonurus deminutus Krecz.
Leonurus
Labiatae
54
Iris tigridia Bge.
Iris sp
Dracocephalum Dracocephalum foetidum Bge.
Iris
53
52
51
Trisetum sp
50
Trisetum
Stipa sibirica (L.) Lam.
Stipa krylovii Roshev.
48
49
Stipa baicalensis Roshev.
47
Stipa
Poaceae sp
46
Poa botryiodes Trin.
Poa attenuata Trin.
44
45
Poa sp
Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvel.
Koeleria macrantha (Ldb.) Schult.
Festuca sp
Species name
Cleistogenes squarrosa (Trin.) Keng.
43
Poa
Festuca
40
Graminae
Genus name
Cleistogenes
# Family name
39
Table 4 (continue). The list of all species which recorded in census years
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
N
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
T
+
2009
+
+
+
+
S
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
N
+
+
+
T
+
2010
+
+
S
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
N
+
+
+
+
T
+
2011
+
+
+
+
S
+
Unknown
Unknown
UP
UP
UP
UP
Unknown
Unknown
P
P
P
Unknown
P
P
P
P
P
P
Pala
tablity
P
herb
herb
herb
herb
herb
herb
herb
grass
grass
grass
grass
grass
grass
grass
grass
grass
grass
grass
Life
form
grass
53
Thermopsis
Trifolium
63
64
76
75
74
Ranunculaceae
Thalictrum
Leptopyrum
Rheum
Polygonum
73
Thalictrum foetidum L.
Leptopyrum fumarioides (L.) Reichb.
Rheum undulatum L.
Polygonum angustifolium Pall.
Agropyron cristatum (L.) P. B.
Agropyron
72 Poaceae
Polygonaceae
Goniolimon speciosum (L.) Boisss.
Chiazospermum Chiazospermum erectum L.
71 Plumbaginaceae Goniolimon
70 Papaveraceae
Allium sp
69
Allium odorum L.
67 Liliaceae
Allium polyrhizum Turcz. ex Ldb.
Allium Mongolicum Roshev.
66
68
Allium bidentatum Fisch.
Trifolium lupinaster L.
Thermopsis dahurica R.Br
65
Allium
Oxytropis
62
Oxytropis sp
Medicago ruthenica (L.) Ldb.
Medicago
61 Leguminosae
Caragana microphylla (Pall.) Lam.
Caragana stenophylla Pojark.
Caragana
59
Species name
Caragana leucophylla Pojark.
60
Genus name
# Family name
58
Table 4 (continue). The list of all species which recorded in census years
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
N
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
T
2009
+
+
+
+
+
+
S
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
N
+
+
+
+
+
T
2010
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
S
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
N
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
T
2011
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
S
UP
UP
UP
P
P
UP
UP
P
P
P
P
P
UP
UP
UP
P
P
P
Pala
tablity
P
herb
annual
herb
herb
grass
herb
annual
herb
herb
herb
herb
herb
herb
herb
herb
herb
shrub
shrub
Life
form
shrub
54
Cymbaria
Pedicularis
88
89
Urtica
95 Zygophyllaceae Peganum
94
Urticaceae
Bupleurum
92 Umbelliferae
93
Veronica
91
Thymus
Haplophyllum
87 Rutaceae
90
Sibbaldianthe adpressa (Bge.) Juz
Sibbaldianthe
86
Scrophulariaceae
Potentilla viscosa G. Don
85
Urtica sp
Peganum nigelastrum Bunge.
Urtica cannabiana L.
Veronica incana L.
Bupleurum bicaule Helm.
Thymus gobicus Tschern.
Pedicularis sp
Cymbaria dahurica L.
Haplophyllum dahuricum (L.) G. Don
Potentilla muiltifida L.
Potentilla conferta Bge.
83 Rosaceae
84
Potentilla bifurca L.
82
Potentilla
Potentilla acaulis L.
81
Chamaerhodos erecta (L.) Bge.
Chamaerhodos
80
Thalictrum simplex L.
Thalictrum sp
Thalictrum
78 Ranunculaceae
Species name
Thalictrum petaloideum L.
79
Genus name
# Family name
77
Table 4 (continue). The list of all species which recorded in census years
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
N
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
T
2009
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
S
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
N
+
+
+
+
+
+
T
2010
+
+
+
+
+
+
S
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
N
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
T
2011
+
+
+
+
+
S
UP
UP
UP
P
UP
UP
Unknown
UP
UP
UP
UP
P
P
UP
UP
UP
UP
UP
Pala
tablity
UP
herb
herb
herb
herb
herb
shrub
herb
herb
shrub
herb
herb
herb
herb
herb
herb
annual
herb
herb
Life
form
herb
55
56
57
4
T able 6 List of totally species which recorded in
Life form
Annuality
P
Palatablity
Coverage
N
Artemisia frigida Willd.
5.5
Caragana leucophylla
+
Caragana microphylla
4.7
Caragana stenophylla
0.4
T
1.0
2.8
0.1
S
+
4.1
0.1
Shrub
UP
5
Artemisia adamsii Bess.
Artemisia mongolica
Artemisia scoparia
Haplophyllum davuricum
T hymus gobicus
Perennial
study site.
N
2.2
+
0.7
+
T
S
17.4 0.1
0.1
+
+
+
+
-
P
Annual
UP
13
Achnatherum splendens
Agropyron cristatum
Cleistogenes sp
Cleistogenes squarrosa
Festuca sp
Koeleria macrantha
Leymus chinensis
Poa sp
Poa attenuata
Poa botryiodes T rin.
Stipa baicalensis Roshev.
Stipa krylovii Roshev.
Stipa sibirica (L.) Lam.
P
N
0.1
0.7
+
0.5
+
+
2.0
+
+
+
+
1.1
+
T
0.4
0.1
+
2.5
+
+
+
0.9
-
Perennial
S
1.9
0.1
+
0.1
+
+
+
0.2
-
UP
Grass
0
N
P
T
S
Annual
UP
N T
S
58
15
35
Veronica incana
T able 6 (continue) List of totally species which recorded in study site.
Life form
Herb
Perennial
Annuality
P
UP
Palatablity
Coverage
N
T
S
Allium bidentatum
+
+
- Artemisia dracunculus
Allium Mongolicum
2.4 Chamaerhodos erecta
Allium odorum L.
0.3
+
- Convolvulus ammanii
Allium polyrhizum
+ Cymbaria dahurica L.
Allium sp
+
0.1 Dracocephalum foetidum
Arenaria capillaris
+
+ Ephedra sp
Bupleurum bicaule
+
+ Goniolimon speciosum
Carex korshinskyi
1.6
+
+ Heteropappus hispidus
Carex pediformis
1.9
5.0
0.2 Iris tigridia Bge.
Kochia prostrata
0.3
- Lappula myosotis
Medicago ruthenica
+
+
- Leauzea uniflora
Polygonum angustifolium
+
- Leonurus deminutus
Potentilla conferta Bge.
+
+
+ Lophanthus chinensis
Potentilla muiltifida L.
+
+
- Oxytropis sp
Rhaponticum uniflora
0.1
- Peganum nigelastrum
Potentilla acaulis L.
Potentilla bifurca L.
Potentilla viscosa
Ptilotrichum canescens .
Rheum undulatum L.
Saussurea salicifolia
Serratula centauroides L.
Sibbaldianthe adpressa
Silene jenescensis
Silene repens
Stellaria dichotoma L.
T halictrum foetidum
T halictrum petaloideum
T halictrum simplex
T halictrum sp
T hermopsis dahurica
T rifolium lupinaster
Urtica cannabiana L.
Urtica sp
-
N
0.4
0.1
0.2
+
+
+
+
0.1
+
+
+
+
+
0.9
0.1
+
+
0.1
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
0.1
+
0.1
+
T
0.1
+
0.1
+
+
+
0.6
+
+
+
+
+
0.2
0.5
+
+
+
-
S
+
0.2
+
+
+
+
+
0.2
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
1
Dontostemon integrifolius
P
N
+
T
+
S
-
UP
11
Artemisia macrocephala
Artemisia palustris L.
Artemisia pectinata
Chenopodium acuminatum
Chenopodium album L.
Chenopodium aristatatum
Chenopodium sp
Chiazospermum erectum
Erodium stephanianum
Leptopyrum fumarioides
Salsola collina Pall.
Annual
N
0.1
+
+
13.9
0.3
+
+
0.2
T
+
2.4
0.2
+
+
+
0.1
S
9.7
0.1
+
0.2
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
CHAPTER 5: GRAZING PRESSURE
1.
Grazing gradient from winter camp
From the center of winter camp, grazing pressure seemed to be gradually decreased with the
distance because of the grazing area increased by the square of distance from the center. Then the
distance from the center was the suitable indicator for the grazing pressure. In order to analyze the
effect of grazing pressure, vegetation changes from the center of winter camp were analyzed for
each dominant species as shown in Figure 18.
In both zones, the coverage of Caragana microphylla increased from winter camp with
grazing gradient in each year (Figure 18 1-2). The Artemisia frigida was increased from winter
camp with grazing distance in both zones (Figure 18 3-4). The Stipa krylovii, Agropyron cristatum
were increased in north and south from winter camp with grazing distance (Figure 18 5-8). The
average coverage of Leymus chinensis was increased in north while in south was rare (Figure 18
9-10). Achnatherum splendens was very rare in north while decreased from winter camp with
grazing distance, especially in 2010 and 2011 (Figure 18 11-12). But, the coverage of it was very
low in endmost area in each year. Artemisia adamsii and Carex spp weren’t show any trend with
grazing distance in north and south (Figure 18 13-14). Allium Mongolichum was absent in north but
wasn’t show trend with grazing gradient in 2009 while increased from winter camp with grazing
distance in south in 2010 and 2011. Chenopodium acuminathum was clearly decreased from winter
camp with grazing distance in north zone but in south zone wasn’t show clear trend in 2009 and
2010 while drastically decreased from winter camp to grazing distance in 2011 (Figure 18 19-20).
The average coverage of Cleistogenes squarrosa increased from winter camp with the grazing
distance in north in 2010 and 2011 but it was very rare in south in census years (Figure 21-22).
Peganum nigelastrum was absent in north while in south decreased from winter camp with grazing
gradient especially in 2011 (Figure 18 23-24). As these figure, the trend of the most dominant
species with grazing gradient was monotonously in each census year.
2. Types of spatial change in vegetation coverage
According to the spatial changes in vegetation coverage for all species, four typical types of
changes were detected, which could denoted as negative, positive, independent and temporal
relations as shown in Figure 19.
69
2.1
Negative relationship
The vegetation coverage decreases monotonously from the center of winter camp to the end
of observed area, 1600m from the camp. The vegetation coverage had negative relationship with
the distance from the center. The increase of vegetation coverage with the increase of grazing
pressure indicated high grazing tolerance such as unpalatable or great preference of disturbed
habitat condition like pioneer species. For example, Chenopodium acuminathum shown in Figure
20-1 could cover about 80% of the ground just near the winter camp and drastically decreased to
800m. It could dominate only 0.9% of the ground at 1600m site which seemed under almost the
natural condition without or only a little grazing pressure.
2.2 Positive relationship
On the other hand, the vegetation coverage at the center of winter camp showed the lowest
value, almost zero, and increased toward as the distance become long toward the end of observed
site, which was denoted as positive relationship. Grazing pressure had a great effect on their growth,
because of high palatable or intolerance of habitat disturbance. The typical palatable grass species,
Stipa krylovii shown in Figure 20-2 was absent around the winter camp and monotonously
increased its coverage with 11.6% at 1600m.
2.3
Independent relationship
The vegetation coverage could maintain a certain stable level at all location from the winter
camp indicating independent relationship with grazing pressure. Although Artemisia adamsii was
absent at the center of winter camp, the coverage became 12.4% at 50m from the center and
maintained the same level of coverage around 10% toward the end of observed site. Such
relationship indicates that not only little effect of grazing pressure and habitat disturbance on plant
70
growth, but also little promotion by the decrease of competition within plant community (Figure
20-3).
2.4 Temporal relationship
The vegetation coverage showed some convex changes with the distance from the center as
shown in Figure 18, denoted as temporal relationship. In comparison with species of independent
relationship, this relationship was cause by both grazing pressure and other factor(s) including
competition within plant community. The vegetation coverage of Heteropapus hispidus as shown in
Figure 20-4 was 1.3% at the center and increased to 23.2% at 800m from the center. However, it
drastically decreased to 1.1% at 1600m.
3. Species of each relationship
3.1 Dominant species
Dominant species shown in Table 19 did not show the same relationship. Caragana
microphylla, Artemisia frigida, Stipa krylovii, Agropyron cristatum, Allium Mongolichum and
Cleistogenes squarrosa, which dominated both in the north and the south zones showed positive
relationships as shown in Figure 18 1-2, 18 3-4, 18 5-6, 18 7-8, 18 17-18 and 18 21-22, respectively.
However, Artemisia adamsii and Carex spp dominating both in the north and the south zones did
not show any trend of change of their coverage with the distance from the camp (Figure 18 13-14,
18 15-16, respectively).
71
3.2 Negative relationship
Achnatherum splendens, Peganum nigelastrum and Chenopodium acuminathum dominating
north and south showed negative relationship as shown in Figure 18 11-12, 18 19-20 and 18 23-24,
respectively.
3.3 Positive relationship
Caragana microphylla, Artemisia frigida, Stipa krylovii, Agropyron cristatum, Allium
Mongolichum and Cleistogenes squarrosa, which dominated both in the north and the south zones
showed positive relationships as shown in Figure 18 1-2, 18 3-4, 18 5-6, 18 7-8, 18 17-18 and 18
21-22, respectively.
3.4 Independent relationship
However, Artemisia adamsii and Carex spp dominating both in the north and the south zones
did not show any trend of change of their coverage with the distance from the camp. These species
showed independent relationship with grazing distance in Figure 18 13-14, 18 15-16, respectively.
3.5 Temporal relationship
This trend wasn’t occurred in dominant species but other species such as Heteropapus
hispidus, Potentilla acaulis and Arenaria capillaris showed temporal relationship as shown in
Figure 20-4.
72
4. PFT of each relationship
As mentioned before, vegetation coverage would have great relation with the PFT. The
relation types of each PFT were shown in Table 20. Two species of the total 84 species included in
PFT could not determine the relation type.
4.1 Negative relationship
All (7) unpalatable annual species and 1 unpalatable perennial species were negative
relationship as shown in Table 20 indicating high sensitivity to habitat degradation by grazing
pressure. These species are including 13.1% and 1.2%, respectively of the total percent of coverage.
The dominant species of this group were unpalatable annuals, Chenopodium acuminathum and
Salsola collina in the north and the south zones and Artemisia scoparia in the north zone.
4.2 Positive relationship
In positive relation type, all (13) grass species, 5 palatable herbs and all (4) palatable shrubs
were included and the percent of coverage were 15.5, 6 and 4.8%, respectively. The representative
species are Caragana microphylla, Stipa krylovii and Allium Mongolichum.
4.3 Independent relationship
In this type, most palatable and unpalatable herb species were included and shown 51.2% of
all species coverage. The representative species were Artemisia adamsii, Carex spp, Artemisia
scoparia, Convolvulus ammanii and Chenopodium acuminathum.
4.4 Temporal relationship
The small number of unpalatable perennial herbs was included in this type such as
Heteropapus hispidus, Potentilla acaulis and Potentilla bifurca.
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
CHAPTER 6: THE KEY INFORMANT`s EVALUATIONS
1. Species characteristics of several important plants
In the steppe of Mongolia, Caragana microphylla, Stipa krylovi,i, Cleistogenes squarrosa,
Agropyron cristatum, Leymus chinensis, Carex spp and Artemisia frigida were main dominants
(Yunatov, 1976; Hilbig, 1995; Chognii, 2001).
1.1 Dominant shrubs
Shrubs (Caragana microphylla, Artemisia frigida and Artemisia adamsii) can sprout even in
dry spring because of their deep root system (Yamada et al, 2009; Fujita, 2012). Caragana
microphylla and Artemisia frigida are drought tolerant.
1.1.1 Caragana microphylla as a nurse plant
In arid and semiarid areas, large sized plants may have a positive effect on the growth and
survive of small plants growing under their canopy or branches (Raffaele and Veblen, 1998). For
example, Caragana microphylla generally reduce the intensity of wind erosion and can promote
growth of small plants (Sanchir, 1974; Su et al, 2004). Such nurse effect of Caragana microphylla
(Raffaele and Veblen, 1998) as a benefactor species may affect species composition and increases
resilience of plant community far from the camp. Moreover, Caragana microphylla gathers sand
around its base and makes a small mound beneath the canopy which has some benefits for other
small plants. On the other hand, as the high palatability of Caragana microphylla, most of their
foliage is eaten under heavy grazing and it becomes small and dwarf shape. As a result, this species
seldom act as a nurse plant under natural condition of Mongolian rangeland with generally heavy
grazing intensities.
In the steppe and dry steppe (between Ulaanbaatar and Mandalgobi), Caragana microphylla
can dominates widely with high density (Sasaki, 2008; Fujita, 2012). C. microphylla is C3 plant, but
it can grow in dry condition. Moreover, Caragana is Fabaceae which can fix nitrogen. Therefore,
Caragana`s leaves and flowers contain high amount of protein and fiber which means that this
species is good for livestock (Jigjidsuren and Johnson, 2003).
In a dry spring with little precipitation, herbs cannot grow but Caragana microphylla can
produce leaves (Yamada et al, 2009). Moreover, Caragana microphylla can maintain its leaves even
under long drought, in which herbs suffer serious damage on their growth. Therefore, Caragana
84
microphylla grow in wide range of climate condition. In this result, the coverage of Caragana
microphylla in the north and the south zones was 4.7 and 4.1% respectively, which as not
significantly different (p=0.75) (Table 8).
1.1.2 Artemisia frigida
Artemisia frigida is the one of the most important species of this study site because of its good
nutrient for livestock. Therefore this species is very important as fodder in spring. The nutrition of
bloomed Artemisia frigida become in maximum scale in early spring then it can be first good fodder
in harsh dry spring and protein of this species become 16.2% in such period (Tserendash and
Bolormaa, 2006).
1.1.3
Artemisia adamsii
Xerophytic semi shrub. Roots thin rhizomatous. With essential oil plant. Not important for
forage. Recognized as an indicator of pasture degradation (Jambal and Oyuntsetseg, 2008).
1.2 Dominant grasses
1.2.1 Stipa krylovii
Stipa is the most important genus in grasslands of the cool temperate semi-arid zones
(Nakamura et al, 1988). Stipa krylovii (Graminae) is one of the major grassland species in the
moderate temperate zone of Central Asia (Li Xin, 2012). It is perennial tussock grass with rich
nutrients and palatable. It can tolerate for grazing and trampling. However, less drought-resistant
resulting gradual recede when faced with increasing dryness. Moreover, it is incapable of
successive competition with drought resistant species in the south zone. Stipa krylovii can produce
much seeds, but under the relatively dry conditions, seedlings are not commonly found and do not
establish well. Stipa is a caespitose grass with a much slower lateral spread. It does not make long
rhizomes but it relatively slowly increases its bunch size by growing more tillers. Stipa bunches can
break up as part of the bunch die off (Staalduinen, 2005). In recently, the original dominant Stipa
grasses were replaced by other grasses like Leymus chinensis, Cleistogenes squarrosa and ruderal
plants species (Hilbig, 1995).
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1.2.2 Leymus chinensis
Leymus chinensis is a perennial grasses growing under the relatively dry conditions. It shows a
fast lateral spread by forming rhizomes (Staalduinen, 2005). Under light or moderate grazing Stipa
krylovii is the dominant species, but under a higher grazing intensity Stipa krylovii decreases and the
rhizomatous Leymus chinensis and Carex duriusculla become dominant (Hilbig, 1995;
Fernandez-Gimenez and Allen Diaz, 2001). This phenomenon where the original dominating
caespitose species are being replaced by rhizomatous species when grazing pressure by livestock
increases is common in many other semi arid grassland areas, e.g. Inner Mongolia, Northern China
and North American steppe (Mack and Thompson, 1982; Milchunes et al, 1988).
1.2.3 Cleistogenes squarrosa
Cleistogenes squarrosa is a C4 tussock grass and has many buds and can regrow one ot
two times per year. Therefore, Sanjid (2002) hypothesized that Cleistogenes squarrosa would
increase through warming. Moreover, Chognii (2011) have shown that Cleistogenes squarrosa is
increased through light and moderate grazing, as well as after a steppe fire (Tuvshintogtoh, 2007).
Those results are ratified by our study.
1.2.4
Agropyron cristatum
With the important role species on pasture of livestock and xerophytic perennial bunch
grass. Palatable to all livestock throughout year. Nutrient value is high. Protein content is 9.5-10.7%
and fiber is 30-32.6% when blooming. Metabolic energy per kg of hay is 8.6Mj and protein is
56-70g. Stems stand upright in winter and spring making it important for forage. Annual yield is
relatively stable (Jigjidsuren and Johnson, 2003).
1.2.5 Achnatherum splendens
This species is a bushy grass and can form large and dense community in dry area.
Achnatherum splendens is highly drought tolerant because this species can grow in relatively humid
and stable condition (lower land with shallow groundwater) which is free from water shortage. The
vegetation cover of this species can be remained even under drought (Sasaki et al, 2009). Pastoralists,
therefore, tend to use Achnatherum community in drought (Grubov, 1982). After the decay of
aboveground of both herbs and deciduous shrubs in wither, the withered aboveground biomass of
Achnatherum splendens was still available for fodder until the next spring. But its importance for
fodder is limited for only in winter because of its bad taste. As it does not occur around winter camp
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in the north zone, pastoralists don’t use this species as a safety net in dzud in the north zone. Old
culms of Achnatherum splendens become hard to protect soft new shoots.
1.3 Dominant herbs
1.3.1 Carex spp
High percentage of vegetation coverage of Carex duriusculla around wet site indicated the result of
intensive grazing (Hilbig, 1995). Carex duriusculla contains perennial rhizomatous sedges with
triangular. This is palatable to horses and cattle until autumn and poor palatability to small livestock.
Nutrient value is not well studied. Carex duriusculla increased in due to grazing, as these species
were regarded as good indicators of over grazed stands (Ichiroku, 2006).
1.3.2
Allium spp
Allium spp (Allium polyrhizum and Allium Mongolichum) grow in dry steppe and desert
steppe while rare in the north.
Allium polyrhizum is with fibrous root. Height is 10-25 cm. This species has much protein and
tolerant for trampling. Most of above ground is dead in the autumn and it begins to dormant until in
the next spring, during which this species is not suitable for fodder. In spring, rain promotes its quick
growth. This species can regenerate both from seeds and vegetative shoots.
Allium Mongolichum is perennial and palatable herb and can distribute only in dry steppe
(Jigjidsuren and Johnson, 2005). Allium Mongolichum is sensitive for humidity changes, shows
direct relation with precipitation in its growth. They can quickly grow after rain (Tuvshintogtoh,
2007). According Fujita (2012), this species was dominant under canopy of Caragana microphylla
and Caragana stenophylla. However, Allium Mongolichum could grow in dry area without any
Caragana vegetation under rainfall, which means the protection by Caragana canopy is not the
necessity of it’s establish. In this research, Allium Mongolichum could distribute wide area without
Caragana. In the south zone, vegetation coverage of Allium Mongolichum was significantly higher
in 2011 than 2009 and 2010 showing a keen relation with amount of precipitation. After heavy rain
in 2011 in the south zone, its pink flowers covered the most rangeland.
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1.3.3 Chenopodium acuminathum
Chenopodium acuminathum was dominated in both of the north and south zones. It is
annual herb and weedy species that increases in abundance by grazing on Mongolian rangeland
(Fernandez-Gimenez and Allen Diaz, 2001). Chenopodium acuminathum is unpalatable annual herb
resulting high coverage under high grazing pressure near the centre of winter camps (25-50m).
2. Geographical variation
According to the vegetation structure, the study area was divided into two parts from north to
south, namely the north zone and the south zone.
2.1 The north and south zone
Vegetation coverage is generally higher in the north zone than the south zone along 450km
distance. The number of grass and herbs showed a gradual decrease from north to south with
changes of humidity, however shrubs maintained stable level of species number suggesting their
drought tolerance.
In the north zone, a remarkable annual change in vegetation coverage was detected such as
Stipa krylovii (in endmost area), because of the relatively stable condition in annual variation. But,
in the south zone, Allium mongolicum (endmost and suppressed area) and Chenopodium
acuminathum (in suppressed area) showed remarkable annual changes around a winter camp, for
example a significantly greater increase in coverage were observed in 2011 than 2009 and 2010.
These changes seemed to have keen relation with precipitation. In such wet year, most livestock
can feed on this species (Allium mongolicum) in summer in the south zone, although Chenopodium
acuminathum is never be used for fodder in the north zone because of the selection of fodder is
higher in north area. Livestock in the south zone had to depend on Caragana microphylla during
natural disaster in 2009 and 2010.
As these main species of Allium mongolicum and Chenopodium acuminathum in the south
zone prefer to grow in disturbed condition, there is a great possibility to invade other species to
overcome these species after long period of good weather condition being suitable for vegetation
recovery. For the inhabitation of pastoralists, such calm and stable condition is necessary to last for
a certain long years. However, from the view point of equilibrium and non-equilibrium theory,
weather condition in the south zone is not stable in comparison with that in the north zone to
recover the natural vegetation condition without environmental variation. Allium spp and
Chenopodium acuminathum showed drastic fluctuates in their coverage because of their sensitivity
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to changes in humidity.
According to the prediction that non-equilibrium dynamics predominate in areas where mean
annual precipitation is less than 250 mm and precipitation coefficient of variation exceeds 33%
(Kakinuma, 2013). As the comparison of amount of precipitation, in north between Darkhan
(Station1), Hustai (Station2) and Zuunmod (Station3), the total precipitation were 344, 264.2 and
259.9 mm, respectively and it is considering to be in equilibrium condition. Although, total
precipitation were 187.5, 146.1 and 99.1mm in BayanOnjuul (Station4), Adaatsag (Station5) and
Mandalgobi (Station6), respectively and it is considering the non-equilibrium condition. According
to the non-equilibrium model, management based on constant and conservative stocking rates is
inappropriate and costly to pastoralism in such variable systems, as carrying capacities vary with
precipitation (Behnke, 1993), rainfall is a primary driver of vegetation dynamics (Dorji, 2010;
Wesche et al., 2010; Cheng et al., 2011).
2.2 Transit zone
Between the north and the south zones, transitional zone is detected, in where
classification of vegetation structure was varied year by year in accordance with yearly changes in
weather condition.
The width of the transitional zone was estimated about 90km. The transitional zone is
better to study to clarify the way of management by pastoralists affecting grazing gradient and
vegetation conditions. From the interview, herders in the south zone are apt to move and track in
this transitional area to find fresh pastures. Especially in harsh period, such as drought in summer
and dzud in winter, pastoralists from the south zone are easy to invade in this fertile rangeland
resulting heavy grazing pressure. Moreover, the high accessibility of this are being next of the
capital promotes high concentration of livestock.
The species composition of study sites is decreasing from north to south it means that the
plant distribution also was related with climate gradient. The reason in movement of transitional
zone in each year could not be clarified from this study. But, from interview data, the owners
inhabiting in the transitional zone from the south zone did not want to stay in this zone for long
period but to use it only during harsh winter. The number of livestock staying in such manner is not
clear.
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3. The mortality of livestock during dzud
The total number of pastoralists which included north group was 312 and 218 while in south
was 528 and 278 in 2009 and 2010, respectively. As this number, the number of livestock decreased
and the mortality percent was 30.0 and 47.4% in north and south zones, respectively (Figure 21).
The mortality of each kind of livestock was shown in Figure 22. As figure, goat and cow were
affected by dzud. The mortality of goat was 30.6 and 59.2% while of cow 36.8 and 51.0% in north
and south, respectively. As the valuable cashmere, recently the number of goats doubled during
1990`s because of great demand of cashmere (National Statistical Office of Mongolia, 2003). But
goat and cow were most vulnerable to natural disaster. It shows that the ability to resistant the
natural disaster of these kinds of livestock is not good.
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DISCUSSION
1. Why were winter camps selected for study sites?
Mongolian pastoralists have been using the winter camp for long period between
November-May to protect their livestock from harsh weather in winter. Most pastoralists construct
livestock pen at the center of their winter camp sites, which were located at the foot of mountain,
on the south facing slope to avoid strong cold wind from north. Livestock kept in a pen at night and
start to feed on dried grass growing in front of the winter camp. However, it is necessary to move
for long distance from the camp to get enough amounts of dried fodder as the settlement period
progress in winter. The longer the distance from the winter camp, the lower the grazing pressure
becomes. Then grazing pressure gradually decreases from the center of winter camp to the outer
part of winter camp site. Plant species having high tolerance against livestock grazing can dominate
over the area with severe disturbance, such as the neighbourhood area around the winter camp. As a
result, the distance from winter camp can be considered as an indicator of the grazing intensity to
analyze the effect of pastoralism on vegetation structure in rangeland.
Changes in coverage of PFT including life forms and growth forms along grazing gradient
were studied by the analysis of the effect of livestock activity on rangeland vegetation structure
(Hoshino et al, 2009).
The topographical condition of winter camps in north and south zone is different. Winter
camps were established on a gentle slope of hillside in north while winter camps which located
were in lowland of large plain in south zone (Figure 23). It related with harsh climate condition. In
order to protect their livestock from harsh weather in winter, pastoralists construct livestock camps,
which were often located at the foot of a mountain, facing south, to avoid strong wind in north area
while locating in lowland warm place in south zone.
2. The pastoralists` strategy
Pastoralists choose the grazing strategies by balance of cost and benefit of mobility and thus
grazing strategies were different by pastoralists` economic situation (Baker and Hoffman, 2006).
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For example, wealthy pastoralists tend to be frequently moving in order to explorer the good
resource and poor pastoralists are not in order to reduce the cost of mobility in high variable
condition (Baker and Hoffman, 2006). In this study, pastoralists in south zone were frequently
moved in drought and in period of not sufficient of pasture while pastoralists don’t move in north.
Pastoralists which live in north zone don’t move comparing with pastoralists in south zone, it may
relate with the vegetation condition based on equilibrium environment. Kakinuma (2013)
concluded that if pastoralists have good economic condition they can escape from natural disaster
and if they exploit the rainfall variation, they should move long distance and high frequency. On the
other hand, if pastoralists don’t have good economic condition they cannot move long, high
frequent moving and cannot escape from natural disaster. This situation was observed also in this
case but interesting was observed. For example, 2 pastoralists who with similar livestock number
(more than thousand) live in winter camp with number 15 and 19 in south zone. The number of
livestock of these 2 pastoralists` is not so different and most wealthy families in selected
pastoralists but the mortality of livestock was very different. Owner of winter camp 15 was fenced
the Achnatherum community (Figure 24) and use this fenced community during dzud. As this
strategy the mortality of livestock of this pastoralist was very few compared with livestock
mortality of pastoralist in winter camp 19 who don’t use such kind fenced community (Table 21). It
was good strategy especially in harsh winter and spring. Local pastoralists used the different
resources between normal summers and droughts and during the normal summers the pastoralists
used all types’ communities while using mostly Achnatherum community in drought (Kakinuma,
2013).
3. Species composition
The pattern of floristic composition was determined by grazing intensity together with
palatability, which was the dominant environmental effect (Sasaki, 2004, Li, 1989, Nemoto et al,
1994, 1997; Wang and Ripley, 1997; Nakamura et al, 1998, 2000; Wuyunna et al., 1999; Yuruhan et
al., 2001).
Tserendash (2006) reported about 120 species from Mongolia steppe and 3-5 of them could be
considered as an important species to maintain rangeland. In this study, about the same number of
species (95 species) was recorded and 3 or 5 species, such as Caragana microphylla, Artemisia
frigida and Stipa krylovii in north zone and Caragana microphylla, Achnatherum splendens and
Allium spp were in south zone seemed to be important for rangeland ecosystem as mentioned later.
As comparison the total number both study, the species which occurred in this research site could
be represent the general condition of steppe of Mongolia. From the view point of quantitative
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aspect of grassland production, herbs and shrubs are important, especially the herbs are important
for the species diversity while shrub and grass can be produce big massive in rangeland ecosystem.
Each plant species has an original range of distribution along environmental gradients and behaves
independently in response to the environment.
4. PFT
4.1 Life form
4.1.1 Shrubs
9 species shrubs were recorded and the average coverage of them was 3.0% in all study
sites during 3 census years. Generally, genus of Caragana species dominant in this study area, such
as Caragana microphylla, C. stenophylla, C.leucophylla and C. pygmea (Hilbig, 1995; Chognii,
2001). Caragana microphylla is becoming most important species in this study area, especially in
south zone this species become the key resource for livestock during yearlong and it confirmed by
interview of local pastoralists.
4.1.2 Grasses
The average coverage was 1.9% of total 15 species grass which recorded in this study area.
In the north zone, dominant grasses were Stipa krylovii, Agropyron cristatum, Poa spp and Leymus
chinensis, as same as results of Staalduinen (2005), Chognii (2001) and Fujita (2012). On the other
hand, in the south zone, dominant grasses were changed to Achnatherum splendens, Cleistogenes
squarrosa and Agropyron cristatum. Sasaki (2009) and Kakinuma (2013) had reported about the
same species domination. Most of these dominant species could grow in both zones such as
Caragana microphylla, Stipa krylovii and Agropyron cristatum. While palatable some species such
as, Stipa krylovii and Leymus chinensis in north area, Achnatherum splendens in south area were
mostly distributed. But the coverage of these palatable grass species significantly decreased from
north to south it will describe in next parts.
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4.1.3
Herbs
Tserendash (1995) concluded that the most of species are herbs in steppe of Mongolia. In
this study more than 70 species were herbs and with comparing total species composition it is big
scale but the average coverage of such herbs was 3.1%. It shows that the coverage of herb species is
not so much in Caragana steppe. As species diversity of herbs is much then it has big role in
ecosystem of this steppe. In the north zone, Carex spp and Chenopodium acuminathum dominated
while, in the south zone, Allium Mongolichum, Chenopodium acuminathum, and Peganum
nigelastrum dominated. In both zones, the number of herbs was high because all of this experimental
area belongs to Caragana steppe having many kinds of herbs. From palatable herb species such as,
Carex spp, Kochia prostrata were dominated in north zone while only Allium Mongolichum was
dominated in south zone.
5.Palatability
5.1.1
Shrubs
Caragana microphylla and Artemisia frigida were palatable shrubs.
5.1.2
Grasses
All grass occurred in this experimental site was palatable. Especially Agropyron cristatum,
Stipa krylobii, Achnatherum splendens and Poa spp were good fodder in both quality and quantity.
Local nomadic people call these plants “nariin nogoo” or “nariin ovs” in Mongolian which means
“fine plants” (Nachinshonkhor, personal communication). By the interview, many pastoralists
indicated the decrease of palatable species, such as Stipa krylovii, Koeleria macrantha, Poa spp,
Agropyron cristatum and Festuca spp even in healthy grassland by the continuous climate changes.
These fine species with very high nutrient content (Dashzeveg, 1983 and Tserendash, 1993) can be
good forage and necessary for physical condition of livestock.
During drought, the leaves of xerophytes dominant species such as Leymus chinensis, Stipa
krylovii, and Achnatherum splendens can roll up along vertical axes to get narrow to overcome water
deficit.
Pastoralists usually used to herd in rangeland with many small and highly palatable
graminoids such as Poa spp, Agropyron cristatum, Koeleria macrantha and Cleistogenes squarrosa
(Jigjidsuren and Johnson, 2003) but during drought there were few small graminoids (Sasaki et al,
2009).
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5.1.3 Herbs
Throughout increasing grazing pressure, mesophytes and unpalatable species increased more
than 50%, and xerophytes decreased in Ovor Baigal and Inner Mongolia (Chognii, 2011).
Annual C4 plants such as Salsola collina and Chenopodium acuminathum can increase their
coverage after cessation of grazing. However, Chenopodium acuminathum is an unpalatable species
(Tuvshintogtoh, 2001).
6.Grazing effect in regional scale
6.1
Species composition and dominant species in north and south zone
As our result, grazing affected the structure of vegetation is differently in north and south.
That is, the species composition in both zones responded differently to grazing. The number of
species composition different between study sites which located in north and south. It was higher in
north (82 species) than south (49 species) zones in three years.
The main change between both zones was the dominant species. Only, Caragana
microphylla and Chenopodium acuminathum are dominated in both areas, but other dominant
species dissimilarity in these areas, such as in north, the indicator species of typical steppe Artemisia
frigida, Stipa krylovii and Leymus chinensis (Staalduinen (2005), Chognii (2001) and Fujita (2012),
Artemisia adamsii and Carex spp were dominated while were only Allium Mongolichum and
Achnatherum splendens in south zone.
6.2 Dominant species changes from north to south zone
All grass species which recorded in our study were perennial palatable grass and most
annual species were unpalatable. The proportion of palatable and unpalatable of shrubs was similar.
The most perennial herbs were unpalatable.
Palatable shrub species
One of the dominant palatable shrub species Caragana microphylla was stable distributed
in both zones because of our study sites were selected in Caragana steppe. The average coverage of
this species wasn’t different (p=0.388) from north (4.7%) to south (4.1%) while another palatable
shrub Artemisia frigida (maximum height 16 cm) significantly decreased (p=0.001) from north
(5.5%) to south (0.0%) in Table 8 and 12.
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
Unpalatable shrub species
The unpalatable shrub Artemisia adamsii (maximum height 21 cm) decreased (p=0.017)
from north (2.2%) to south (0.1%) in Table 8 and 12.

Palatable perennial grass species
The palatable dominant species Stipa krylovii significantly decreased (p=0.010) from north
(1.1%) to south (0.2%) and another grasses Leymus chinensis (p=0.000), Agropyron cristatum
(p=0.005) and Cleistogenes squarrosa (p=0.003) are significantly decreased from north (2, 1.1, 0.7
and 0.5%, respectively) to south (0.0% all of them) it means that became very rare like absent in
south (Table 8 and 12). But, Achnatherum splendens very rare in study sites of north zone and
dominated in south zone (average coverage 1.9%). It related the different selection of location of
winter camps in north and south zones. In north, the location of winter camp usually in far from
Achnatherum community while in south located in inside of such community. Recently the
pastoralists who stay in south zone usually are fencing the Achnatherum community to keep fodder
livestock during hard period (Figure 24).

Palatable perennial herb species
Allium Mongolichum was absent in north while greatly dominated (2.4%) with high rank in
south zone (Table 8).

Unpalatable perennial herb species
Peganum nigelastrum was absent in north while dominated (0.2%) in south zone (Table 8).

Unpalatable annual herb species
Chenopodium acuminathum is an annual herb and weedy species that increases in abundance
with grazing on Mongolian rangelands (Fernandez-Gimenez and allen Diaz, 2001). The average
coverage of Ch. acuminathum was highest 13.9 and 9.7% in north and south zones with significantly
decreased (p=0.027), respectively (Table 8 and 12).
The abundance of dominant grass species such as, Stipa krylovii (xerophytic, palatable),
Agropyron cristatum (xerophytic palatable), Leymus chinensis (xerophytic palatable) and
Cleistogenes squarrosa (xerophytic palatable) are decreased from north to south it may more
affected by grazing intensity with related the lower species diversity in south area. The number of
most PFT, except palatable and unpalatable shrub species drastically decreased from north to south.
Especially, the herb annual unpalatable species was drastically decreased from north to south it may
be related the precipitation because of annuals directly depends from amount of precipitation.
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7. Temporal changes in grazing effect
In north, the average coverage of perennial shrub Caragana microphylla was 4.9, 3.9 and
5.6% while in south, 3.7, 4.9 and 4.0% in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively (Table 14). The average
coverage among years wasn’t different (in north p=0.753, in south p=0.779 in both zones (Table 16).
In north, the average coverage of perennial shrub Artemisia frigida was 5.7, 4.6 and 7.1%
and while in south, 0.1, 0.1 and 0.1% in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively (Table 14). The average
coverage of this species among years wasn’t different (in north p=0.463, in south p=0.732) in both
zones (Table 16).
In north, the average coverage of palatable perennial grass species Stipa krylovii was 1.1,
0.8 and 2.3% while in south, 0.1, 0.1 and 0.2% in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively (Table14). The
average coverage of this species among years wasn’t different (in north p=0.691, in south p=0.600)
in both zones (Table 16).
In north, the average coverage of palatable perennial grass species Agropyron cristatum
was 0.8, 0.3 and 1.1% while in south, 0.0, 0.0 and 0.1% in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively (Table
14). The average coverage of this species among years wasn’t different (in north p=0.363, in south
p=0.524) in both zones (Table 16).
In north, the average coverage of palatable perennial grass species Leymus chinensis was
0.5, 2.1 and 3.6% in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively (Table 14). The average coverage of this
species among years wasn’t different (in north p=0.066, in south p=0.382) in north zones.
In north, the average coverage of palatable perennial grass species Cleistogenes squarrosa
was 0.4, 0.6 and 1.0% while in south, 0.0, 0.1 and 0.0% in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively
(Table13.5). The average coverage of this species among years wasn’t different (in north p=0.112, in
south p=0.673) in both zones (Table 16).
In north, the average coverage of palatable perennial grass species Achnatherum splendens
was 0.0, 0.0 and 0.1% while in south, 1.1, 1.6 and 2.4% in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively (Table
14). The average coverage of this species among years wasn’t different (in north p=0.405, in south
p=0.754) in both zones.
In north, the average coverage of unpalatable perennial shrub species Artemisia adamsii
was 2.8, 0.9 and 2.8% while in south, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.2% in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively (Table
16). The average coverage of this species among years wasn’t different (in north p=0.614, in south
p=0.644) in both zones.
In north, the average coverage of palatable perennial herb species Carex spp was 1.3, 1.4
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and 3.2% while in south, 0.0, 0.2 and 0.2% in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively (Table 14). The
average coverage of this species among years wasn’t different (in north p=0.508, in south p=0.838)
in both zones (Table 16).
In north, palatable perennial herb species Allium Mongolichum was absent. While the
average coverage of this species was 0.3, 1.5 and 6.3% in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively in south
zone (Table 14). The average coverage of this species among years was significantly different
(p=0.001) in south zone.
In north, the average coverage of unpalatable annual herb Chenopodium acuminathum was
10.6, 8.9 and 21.9%, while was 5.5, 5.8 and 17.4% in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively in south
zone (Table 14). The average coverage of this species among years wasn’t different (p=0.053) in
north zone while significantly different (p=0.000) in south zone (Table 16).
As above result, the vegetation structure of north and south zone is different that means the
species composition (TWINSPAN) and the average coverage (ANOVA) were different in such both
zones. As affected the limited temporal precipitation changes the condition of vegetation is
characterized which dominated by indicator species of typical steppe (north) and adapted in dry
condition species of dry steppe (south). On the other hand, the limited temporal precipitation greatly
was affected on this study area which distributed 450km width.
Only, the palatable shrub Caragana microphylla weren’t affected precipitation changes.
The perennial palatable grass species were valuable fodder for livestock (by interview) and the
abundance of these species significantly decreased from north to south while weren’t changed
among years. These species may be less drought-resistant resulting gradual recede when faced with
increasing dryness. Moreover, Stipa krylovii is incapable of successive competition with drought
resistant species in the south zone and can produce much seeds, but under the relatively dry
conditions, seedlings are not commonly found and do not establish well (Staalduinen, 2005).
As this precipitation changes, the south zone of central Caragana steppe of Mongolia
characterized by with widely distribution perennial palatable (Allium Mongolichum) and annual
unpalatable (Chenopodium acuminathum) herbs and with especial distribution perennial palatable
grass (Achnatherum splendens).
As the comparison of coverage of dominant species in north and south zone all dominant
species which recorded in north zone weren’t affected by annual changes while the significantly
different species of Allium Mongolichum (p=0.033) and Chenopodomium acuminathum (p=0.000)
in south zone (Table 16). It shown that, the condition of vegetation is more stable in north zone than
south zone because of the most dominant 2 species were sensitive for rainfall variable .
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The annual changes of weather condition did not affect on coverage of dominant species
except Stipa krylovii in north zone. Stipa krylovii was weak significantly different in the north zone
among census years (Table 18). But, in the south zone, the coverage of Allium mongolicum showed
significantly different in the suppressed and endmost area. If the suitable condition continues for
long period, other palatable species can regrow.
8. Grazing effect in local scale
In order to be able to come to a sustainable management of the pastures and to combat
the degradation of vegetation and desertification, a better understanding is needed of the role of
herbivore in the sustainability of the ecosystem, and of the mechanisms underlying grazing effects
on the vegetation.
The changes in vegetation structure with the distance from the winter camp were
classified into 4 types, which can indicate the species specific response to the difference of grazing
pressure. The changes of coverage of dominant species from central part of winter camp with
grazing gradient in 3 years were shown in Figure 18.
The average coverage of palatable shrub Caragana microphylla has positive relationship with
grazing distance in both zones during census years (Figure, 18 1-2). Artemisia frigida was positive
relationship with grazing distance (Figure, 18 3-4). Grass palatable species Stipa krylovii and
Agropyron cristatum`s the average coverage was with positive relationship with grazing gradient
while other palatable grasses Leymus chinensis and Achnatherum splendens were with negative
relationship with grazing gradient. Such trend of Leymus chinensis clear observed in north while
Achnatherum splendens` was observed clear in south zone. It means that the winter camps which
separated in north and south groups differenced by these 2 species at near the winter camp. In south,
the Achnatherum splendens communities that were utilized by pastoralists during drought had the
highest number of dung pellets and their species composition was affected by grazing impact (Sasaki,
2008).
The cover of Achnatherum splendens, which has presented in highly productive areas (along
drainage line) declined with grazing. Achnatherum splendens community can be key resource area in
high variable rangelands and at the same time, grazing controls, such as limitation of the number of
livestock in key resource areas, are needed for preventive managements.
Caragana microphylla, Artemisia frigida, Stipa krylovii and Agropyron cristatum were
palatable with high drought resistance (Fujita, 2012) and showed positive relationship with grazing
pressure as shown in Figure 18.
100
Almost all palatable species other than these species showed positive type of relationship
with grazing gradient because of very high nutrient for livestock. Although Artemisia adamsii is
unpalatable, it showed independent relationship with grazing gradient in all climate zones. (Figure,
18 13-14).
Carex spp is palatable but showed independent type of relationship with grazing gradient in
all climate zones as shown in Figure 18 15-16, because of its unique distribution pattern scattering
with annual patches. In other word, the types of relationship of vegetation coverage with grazing
pressure of these two species were not affected by climate conditions.
The covers of weedy annuals such as Chenopodium acuminathum increased abruptly along
grazing gradient in our study site. Chenopodium acuminathum cannot appear the in the non-grazing
plot (Kakinuma, 2013). In this study the average coverage of Chenopodium acuminathum was
negative relationship with grazing gradient and the occurrence in endmost area was rare and shown
the similar trend in both zones. Annual herbs could grow at nutrient-enriched habitat (Hilbig, 1995).
As the amount of dung decreased with distance from winter camp (Okayasu unpublished data),
annual herbs increased in its coverage markedly with increasing grazing pressure (Sternberg et al.,
2000).
The relationship between the vegetation coverage of the main species with distance from the
winter camp was the same manner in north and south zones. Only the scale of coverage was
different in both zones.
As the relation PFT and relation types between average coverage and grazing distance the
condition of vegetation around winter camp is illustrating by follows.
Palatable shrub and grasses are increase in from winter camp and unpalatable annual species
decrease with grazing gradient. Unpalatable independent species increase in far place or decrease in
near the camp. Palatable independent species are increase in near the camp because of low
palatability in comparison with palatable grass (Figure 25). Higher preference of livestock on
palatable grass than palatable herb may allow surviving palatable herb under high grazing pressure,
resulting independent change of palatable plant.
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9. Other discussions
9.1 Shift of species composition
Heavy grazing causes significant changes in vegetation. The vegetation degradation process is
generally characterized by changes in PFT such as an increase in the abundance of annual species
with a concomitant decrease in perennial species (Mclyntyre and Lavorel, 2001, Diaz et al, 2007)
and several studies have also reported such trend in Mongolia (Fernandez-Gimenez and Allen-Diaz,
1999, Sasaki et al 2005).
Vegetation changes along grazing gradient are frequently appeared in the changes of plant
annuality, such as perennial species were apt to be replaced by annual species under heavy grazing
pressure near the camps (Hoshino, 2009).
Under long-term grazing pressure, most of Stipa which were the dominant grass of the
original grassland vegetation were replaced by other grasses such as Cleistogenes squarrosa and
Carex spp. Moreover, under much more degradation by heavy grazing, these secondary invaded
grasses are eliminated by Artemisia frigida (Hilbig, 1995).
9.2 Shift from caespitose to rhizomatous
In north zone, at the center of winter camp under heavy grazing pressure, rhizomatous plant
such as Leymus chinensis could dominate but caespitose plant such as Stipa krylovii could not
survive in such condition as shown in Figure 18-5 and 18-9. Leymus chinensis could tolerate for
grazing because of its tough underground system (Wang, 2004; Staalduinen and Anten, 2005). As a
result, in north zone rangeland of Mongolia including this study area, increasing grazing pressure
was because shifts of growth form from caespitose to rhizomatous.
9.3 After the secession of land use
Even after the secession of grazing pressure by the decrease of livestock number or the
establishment of protection area, grazing-sensitive PFT plants, such as palatable perennial grass,
palatable perennial shrub and palatable perennial and annual herb, could not recover in abundance
at the habitat used for long period with heavy grazing. Whereas, if the intensity of grazing pressure
was not so severe, lightly affected, grazing-sensitive PFT plants could recover in abundance (Sasaki,
2007 ).
102
9.4 Countermeasure to grazing
9.4.1 In species composition
Plants in pasture must have some tolerance for grazing. Urtica has irritating trichomes on its
stems and leaves, and the leaves of some Artemisia and Iris and the flowers of Taraxacum have a
bitter taste. Potentilla has flat leaf rosettes to escape grazing and can be dominant in grazed pasture.
However, this countermeasure reduces their competitive ability for light.
Artemisia frigida, Poaceae, Carex and Allium are palatable and have a meristem at leaf base
to ensure secondary and continuous growth even if the top of plant is grazed (Chognii, 2001). Low
grazing pressure leads to reduce in vegetation coverage of Leymus chinensis which has flat leaves,
while Stipa krylovii which has upright leaves to protect leaves from grazing can dominate
(Staalduinen, 2005). Artemisia adamsii is unpalatable shrub because of its toxic oil (Jigjidsuren,
2003) and can dominate in alkaline soil (Hilbig, 1995). It can grow in degraded habitat disturbed by
livestock tapping. Plants having chemical and physical protection for grazing can grow taller than
grazed palatable plants (Staalduinen, 2005).
9.4.2 Effect of site condition (nutrient)
Annual herbs such as Chenopodium, Salsola and Artemisia increase their coverage as
livestock density increase (Stenberg er al., 2000). Chenopodium acuminathum, unpalatable annual
herb, can grow well at nutrient enriched sites (Hilbig, 1995), which reflect the habitat with much
dung such as winter camp. Then this is the reason why higher coverage of Chenopodium
acuminathum as the distance from the camp decrease (Okayasu, unpublished data).
9.5 Tolerance for grazing
Plants having high tolerance for grazing and environmental disturbance increased their
coverage near the winter camp. The vegetation coverage was higher in the north zone than the
south zone (my observation). Peganum nigelastrum occurred mainly near the centre of winter
camps in the south zone and mostly absent in the north zone (Table 8). The greater the grazing
pressure results the coverage of Peganum nigelastrum is increasing.
The changes in vegetation coverage of main species such as, Artemisia adamsii and Carex spp
were with grazing gradient from winter camp was not different in the both areas. But, the
importance of the main palatable species such as Achnatherum splendens was geographically
103
different, namely Achnatherum splendens is very important for livestock from winter to spring in
the south zone but not so important in the north zone (my observation). The utilization of this
species is different for livestock between the both areas. Achnatherum splendens can grow with
shallow groundwater, although its habitat is mainly limited to degraded pasture.
9.6 Suppressed area and endmost site
Difference in dominant species
Experimental plots along the line from the winter camp were divided into two groups of
the endmost site (endmost plot at 1600m from the winter camp) and others (plots from 25m to
800m) to clarify the effect of grazing on vegetation structure.
Under heavy grazing pressure
around sites in where livestock gathered, such as water sources (Stumpp et. al. 2005), livestock
camps (Sasaki et al. 2008), and village centers (Fujita, 2012), unpalatable species such as
Chenopodium acuminathum was increased under heavy grazing in near the winter camps in both
zones (Figure,18 19-20). In near the winter camp in 25-50m, Leymus chinesis was much distributed
in north zone while Achnatherum splendens was distributed in south zone. Peganum nigelastrum
was increased under heavy grazing in south zone (Figure, 18-24).
Difference in change between north and south
In both suppressed area and endmost site, Caragana microphylla did not show any change of
its coverage between the north and the south area as shown in Table 12, because of its high
dominance in this study site. Except Achnatherum splendens and Chenopodium acuminathum, rest
8 species showed the same trend of coverage change between the north and the south zone in both
suppressed area and endmost site. Most of them showed higher coverage in the north zone than the
south zone. Only Allium mongolicum showed reverse trend. These trends were same in suppressed
and endmost area with mean that may be, the coverage of these species in both zones related with
precipitation changes (Table 12 and 13).
In endmost site, Achnatherum splendens did not change its coverage between the north and the
south zone, while in suppressed area, the coverage increased from the north to the south zone
(Table 13). It related the different selection of location of winter camps in north and south zones. In
north, the location of winter camp usually in far from Achnatherum community while in south
located in inside of such community.
As same as the case of Achnatherum splendens, Chenopodium acuminatum did not change its
coverage between the north and the south zone in endmost site, but significantly decreased from the
104
north to the south zone in suppressed area (Table 13). As Chenopodium acuminathum is an
unpalatable species, this change seems to indicate high grazing pressure in the north zone or low
pressure in the south zone.
105
106
107
108
CONCLUSION
As the number of total species composition and dominant species which recorded in study site,
the number of species condition of steppe is not clear changing under grazing intensity.
The aridity condition affects floristic composition resulting the transit zone between north and
south zones. Important grass species for livestock are cannot grow well in south zone comparing
with north zone. The dominant unpalatable and palatable species were same in north and south,
while different species was dominant in transit zone. So, transit zone is very unique from north and
south.
The most dominant species in the south zone were significantly affected by temporal changes in
vary rainfall condition.
Four types of relation between species coverage and grazing distance were identified. All
species of positive relation were palatable. A negative change was shown by a small proportion
unpalatable species. Both unpalatable and palatable shrub and herb showed independent change.
Higher preference of livestock on palatable grass than palatable herb may allow surviving palatable
herb under high grazing pressure, resulting independent change of palatable plant.
Grazing Management in rangeland of Mongolia
My research identified that the transit zone between north and south zones which affected
by aridity and overusing by pastoralists who escaped from drought and natural disaster and moved
from south zone which high variable rainfall environment. I think that it is better to use around such
zone with special suitable strategy which related vegetation condition, to control the number of
livestock and movement of pastoralists in transit zone.
Kakinuma (2013) resulted that the cover of key resource of Achnatherum splendens, which was
present in highly productive areas declined with grazing and controlling livestock numbers remains
indispensible to rangeland management, even in high variable environments. As the life strategy of
pastoralist, I am thinking with combination such result it is better to protect of key resources of
Achnatherum community from grazing like pastoralist who fenced of this community around winter
camp in south zone. It will be best strategy to survival for newborn young animals and for produce
of them when unexpected natural disaster especially in spring.
As our result, the important fodder grass species for livestock are cannot grow well in south
109
zone comparing with north zone. The rangeland of south zone was characterized by Allium spp in
normal and wet condition. Such pasture is suitable fodder for livestock during wet year because of
most massive productive of Allium spp during growing season in south zone. Traditional grazing
technologies, the taste of meat animals which grazed by Allium spp will delicious and livestock starts
of get their weight and fattening in summer. I think that the pasture of south zone is suitable for
livestock fattening in summer and possible receive the pastoralists from north when wet and good
summer vegetation condition. It may will indispensable to protect the overusing in north zone during
natural disaster at our study area.
110
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I am deeply grateful to my supervisor, Dr. Ken Yoshikawa for always
supporting and leading me during my research. He always provided me with the best opportunities
to develop my work and life condition, very warm energy and big power to overcome difficulty, the
research preparation, experimental supports, writing paper, constant encouragement and invaluable
discussion.
I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Undarmaa Jamsran and Dr. Bandi Namkhai
who provided me the opportunity to study in Japan. They gave me many supports and always
provided me with the energy to move on.
I would also like to express my gratitude to second supervisor Dr. Keiji Sakamoto for the
valuable suggestion to my work and insightful comments on my research.
I am very grateful would like to specially express my gratitude to Dr. Nachinshonhor G.
Urianhai, Dr. Muneto Hirobe, Dr. Naoko Miki and Dr. Yuko Miyazaki for the helpful discussion
insight full comments and valuable books and advice with future potential on my study and thesis.
For helpful supports and valuable discussion, I’m very grateful to the members, of our
laboratory Otoda Takashi, Yoshihiro Yamada, Yoshimori Ichido, Ogasa Mayumi, Yang Li,
Tomohiro Teraminami, Monda Yuki, Junji Kondo, all members of our laboratory in Okayama
University and students of Mongolian State University of Agriculture who participated in field
survey in Mongolia.
111
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APPENDIX.
The dominant species
118
119
Appendix 1.
Information of winter camps
Winter camp 1
Locates most north area in near the Darkhan city and during last 9 years was used. Livestock
number 530 sheep heads. Carex korshinskyi (7.1%), Caragana microphylla (5.3%), Chenopodum
acuminathum (5.2%), Artemisia frigida (4.4 %) and Potentilla acaulis (2.3%) were dominated
around this winter camp area. There were 26.3%, 26.3% and 47.4% in shrub, grass and herb,
respectively. The percent of all species which occurred in this winter camp was 57.9% in palatable
species, 42.1% in unpalatable species.
Winter camp 2
Locates near Darkhan city in north area. Duration of utilization is 5 years. The livestock number is
583 sheep heads. 2 Chenopodum acuminathum (9.6%), Artemisia frigida (9.1 %) and Potentilla
acaulis (4.2%) Caragana microphylla (3.9%), Artemisia adamsii (3.9%), Carex korshinskyi (2.9%),
Stipa krylovii (2.2%) and Kochia prostrata (2.0%) were dominated around this winter camp area.
62.5% of all species were palatable species and 37.5% were unpalatable species. There were 31.3%,
25% and 43.8% in shrub, grass and herb, respectively.
Winter camp 3
Includes in Lun sum which located in north area near in Hustai National Park, Last 17 years have
been used for this owner. Livestock numbers which graze around this winter camps is 427 sheep
heads. Chenopodum acuminathum (20.8%), Artemisia frigida (13.0%), Carex pedifromis (8.4%),
Leymus chinensis (3.2%) and Stipa krylvoii (2.0%) were dominated around this winter camp area.
The shrub, grass and herb species were 26.7%, 33.3% and 40%, respectively. The palatable species
were 66.7% and unpalatable species were 33.3% in this winter camp area.
Winter camp 4
Locate in Lun sum in near Hustai National Park, during 19 years used for pastoralist. Livestock
number is 610 sheep heads. Chenopodum acuminathum (27.2%), Artemisia frigida (5.8 %) and
Caragana microphylla (4.2%) were dominated around this winter camp area. The shrub, grass and
herb species were recorded 33.4%, 33.3% and 33.3%, respectively. Most of species compositions
(60%) were palatable species, 33.3% were unpalatable species and other 6.7% were impossible to
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determine.
Winter camp 5
Locate in Sergelen sum, Livestock number which graze around this winter camps is 240 sheep
heads and last 5 years used for pastoralist. Caragana microphylla (7.5%), Leymus chinensis (5.8%),
Chenopodium acuminathum (5.8%), Artemisia frigida (4.7%) and Artemisia dracunculus (2.1%)
were dominated. 18.5%, 14.8% and 66.7% were shrub, grass and herb, respectively. 33.3% were
palatable, 63.0% were unpalatable and other 3.7% were impossible to determine.
Winter camp 6
Locate in Sergelen sum of Tov province. Livestock number is 407 sheep heads and used for
pastoralist during last 8 years. Chenopodium acuminathum (11.6%), Artemisia adamsii (8.5%),
Leymus chinensis (3.4%) and Caragana microphylla (3.5%) dominated around of this winter camp.
The shrub, grass and herb were 27.8%, 22.2% and 50.0% respectively. The percent of palatable and
unpalatable species were same with 50%.
Winter camp 7
Location is in Sergelen sum in Tov province. Livestock number is 212 and duration for pastoralist
is 2 years. Carex pediformis (14.6%), Artemisia adamsii (10.1%), Leymus chinesis (5.9%),
Caragana microphylla (3.5%) and Chenopodium acuminathum (2.3%).
There were 31.3%, 18.8% and 50% in shrub, grass and herb, respectively. 43.8% of all species are
palatable species and other species (56.3%) were unpalatable species.
Winter camp 8
Locates in Sergelen sum of Tov province, livestock number is 225 and this pastoralist is using been
during 4 years. Artemisia adamsii (36.3%), Chenopodium acuminathum (3.7%) and Caragana
microphylla (2.7%). The shrub, grass and herb were recorded 25.0%, 25.0% and 50.0%,
respectively. 43.8% of all species are palatable species and other species (56.3%) were unpalatable
species.
Winter camp 9
Locates in Bayantsagaan sum of Tov province and livestock number is not clear but used for
pastoralist last 9 years. Artemisia adamsii (5.9%) and Caragana microphylla (2.1%) were
dominated in this area. There were 25.0%, 25.0% and 50.0% in shrub, grass and herb, respectively.
The percent of palatable and unpalatable species were same with 50%
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Winter camp 10
The location of this winter camp is in BayanOnjuul sum of Tov province and last 11 years were
used for this owner which has 1174 livestock be sheep heads. Chenopodium acuminathum (17.3%)
and Caragana microphylla (8.8%) were dominated in this winter camp area. ll species consist of
33.3% shrub, 25.0% grass and 41.7% herb. Most of all species (58.3%) were palatable and other
(41.7%) were unpalatable.
Winter camp 11
This winter camp locates in Bayantsagaan sum of Tov province but, the information of this winter
camp is unknown. Chenopodium acuminathum (19.3%), Caragana microphylla (5.6%) and
Achnatherum splendens (3.5%). Shrub, grass and herb were 36.4%, 27.3% and 36.4%, respectively.
54.5% of all species were palatable species and 45.5% were unpalatable species.
Winter camp 12
Locates in Delgertsogt sum of Dundgobi province. The number of livestock is 403 sheep heads and
duration of utilization is unclear. Chenopodium acuminathum (17.2%), Caragana microphylla
(4.6%) and Allium polyrhizum (2.2%) dominated around this winter camp. The shrub, grass and
herb were 22.2%, 22.2% and 55.6%, respectively. 66.7% of all species were palatable and 33.3%
were unpalatable species.
Winter camp 13
This winter camp locates in Bayantsagaan sum of Tov province and the number of livestock is 543
sheep heads and last 5 years used for pastoralist. Chenopodium acuminathum (14.8%), Caragana
microphylla (5.5%) and Allium polyrhizum (3.2%) were dominated in this area. Shrub, grass and
herb were 28.6%, 14.3% and 57.1%, respectively and 57.1% of all species were palatable species
and 42.9% were unpalatable species for livestock.
Winter camp 14
Locates in Delgertsogt sum of Dundgobi province and livestock number is 420 sheep heads. Used
years for pastoralist is not clear. Chenopodium acuminathum (8.0%), Allium polyrhizum (5.6%),
Achnatherum splendens (4.4%) and Caragana microphylla (2.2%) dominated in this winter camp
area. There were 37.5%, 12.5% and 50.0% shrub, grass and herb recorded in this winter camp area,
respectively. Most of them (62.5%) were palatable species for livestock and 37.5% were
unpalatable species for livestock.
Winter camp 15
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This winter camp locates in Delgertsogt sum of Dundgobi province. The number of livestock is
1231 sheep heads and last 41 years used been for pastoralist with one owner.
With Achnatherum community which fenced last 6 years and Chenopodium acuminathum (15.4%),
Allium polyrhizum (8.1 %), Achnatherum splendens (6.6%) and Caragana microphylla (2.5%)
dominated in this winter camp area. There were 25%, 16.7% and 58.3% in shrub, grass and herb,
respectively. 41.7% of all species were palatable species for livestock and other 58.3% species were
unpalatable species for livestock.
Winter camp 16
This winter camp locates in Adaatsag sum of Dundgobi province and livestock number which
grazes around this winter camp area is 558 sheep heads. During last 7 years have been using for
pastoralist and Caragana microphylla (6.9%) were dominated in this winter camp area. In this
winter camp area shrub (25.0%), grass (33.3%) and herb (41.7%) were recorded and 58.3% of all
species were palatable species for livestock and 41.7% were unpalatable species for livestock.
Winter camp 17
This winter camp locates in Adaatsag sum of Dundgobi province and livestock number which
grazes around this winter camp area is 455 sheep heads. During last 6 years have been using for
pastoralist and Chenopodium acuminathum (9.5%) and Caragana microphylla (2.3%) were
dominated in this winter camp area. Shrub, grass and herb species were recorded with 28.6%,
21.4% and 50.0%, respectively. Most of all species (78.6%) were palatable species for livestock
and others (21.4%) were unpalatable species for livestock.
Winter camp 18
Locates in Saintsagaan sum of Dundgobi province. Livestock number is 785 sheep heads and last
10 years used for pastoralist. Chenopodium acuminthum (8.2%) and Caragana microphylla (4.6%)
were dominated in this winter camp area. There were shrub, grass and herb with coverage 25.0%,
37.5% and 37.5% respectively whereas 62.5% of all species were palatable and 37.5% unpalatable
for livestock.
Winter camp 19
It locates in Saintsagaan sum of Dundgobi province. Livestock number is 1295 sheep heads and last
24 years used for pastoralist. Chenopodium acuminathum (7.6%) and Caragana microphylla
(4.6%) were dominated in this winter camp area. In this winter camp area, there were shrub, grass
and herb with coverage 22.2%, 33.3% and 44.4%, respectively. 66.7% of all species were palatable
species and 33.3% unpalatable species for livestock.
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Winter camp 20
This winter camp locates in Saintsagaan sum of Dundgobi province. Livestock number is 410
sheep heads and last 4 years used for pastoralist. Allium polyrhizum (3.7 %), Caragana microphylla
(2.6%) and Chenopodium acuminathum (2.3%) were dominated in this area. Shrub, grass and herbs
species were recorded with
16.7%, 16.7% and 66.6% , respectively. 20% of all species were
palatable, 66.7% unpalatable for livestock and 33.3% were impossible to determine.
Winter camp 21
This winter camp locates in Saintsagaan sum of Dundgobi province. Livestock number is 238
sheep heads and last 7 years used for pastoralist. Caragana microphylla (3.3%) and Chenopodium
acuminathum (2.1%). There shrub, grass and herb were 42.9%, 14.3% and 42.9%, respectively.
Most of all species 71.4% of all species were palatable and 28.6% were unpalatable for livestock.
Appendix 2.
The character of main species which occurred in study area
1. Caragana microphylla (Pall.) Lam.
Family name-Leguminosae
Mongolian name-(Ukher Khargana)
English name: Caragana
Shrub plant and formed bush. Stem, numerous curved or suberect. Leaves compound pari-pinnately,
leaflets small, glabrous with emarginated or truncate apex. Calyx tubular or campanulate, teeth
larger, conspicuous. Corolla bright yellow. Legume is linear. Flowering period is in June, Seedling
in June~July, Grows with 40-180cm height. Grows in sandy steppes, steppe stony, debris slopes
and hillocky sands. Could be an important component for making mixed feed in steppe zone.
2. Artemisia frigida Willd.
Family name: Compositae
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Mongolian name: (Agi Sharalj)
English name: Wormwood
Semi shrub and dense bunch-forming, xerophytic plant. Leaves soft and covered by silky white
hairs, leaf stalks short, blades triple or double palmate, bract leaves with white cork edges.
Inflorescence semi-circular involucres form hanging racemes. Grows in steppe stony and debris
slopes, rocks, thin sands, pebbles, sayrs, steppes and deserts, rarely in chee-grass stands on
solonetzes. Flowers in August, Seeds between August and September. Grows with 10~40cm.
Distributed in wide area except south west Gobi. Medical and forage plant. Very nutritious for
sheep, goats and camels in summer. It is collected and dried or mixed with curd grain, whey salt
and other residues from diary processing to make feed for exhausted animals. It is good component
for hand-made feed.
3. Stipa krylovii Roshev.
Family name: Graminae
Mongolian name: (Shiveet Khylgana)
English name: Feather grass
Xerophytic grass. Roots fibrous, enveloped in sand. Stems upright with 3 nodes; sheats longer than
internodes, upper sheats folded around panicle. Glumes linear-lanceolate, over 1.5 cm long,
attenuate into long membranaceus cusp. Leaves of vegetative shoots up to 30 cm long. Leaf blades
inside very short-pilose, without long hairs. Awn 10-15cm long, with part below bend 2-3cm long;
lemma 9-11.5 mm lomg. Flowers in July and seeds in August. Grows with 30-70cm. Grows in
dry and stony steppes, sandy and debris steppe slopes, edificatory of dry steppes. Distributed in
most part of Mongolia. Forage plant. Palatable to all livestock throughout year. Highly nutritious.
Need studies on use for rehabilitation of arid steppe and depleted soils.
4. Agropyron cristatum (L.) P.B.
Family name: Graminae
Mongolian name: (Zurmansuul Erkhog)
English name: Wheatgrass
Xerophytic perennial bunch grass. Root fibrous. Upright stem with 2-3 nodes that are 5-10cm long.
Hairs located in along outer surface of leaves. Spikes with very densely located spikelets, so no
gaps between bases; glumes usually more or less pilose, rarely glabrous. Comp shaped spikelets
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areb straight, 2-6 cm long. Grows in steppe, steppe soddy, debris and stony slopes, rocks. Flowers
in July and seeds in August. Grows with 30~70 cm. Distributed in whole territory of Mongolia.
Forage plant. Palatable to all livestock throughout year. Nutrient value is high. Stems stand upright
in winter and spring making it important for forage.
5. Cleistogenes squarrosa (Trin.) Keng.
Family name: Graminae
Mongolian name:
(Nariin Khazaar Ovs)
Xerophytic perennial grass.
6. Achnatherum splendens (Trin.) Nevski
Family name: Graminae
Mongolian name: (Tsagaan Ders)
English name: Needlegrass
Large, dense bushy grass. Root fibrouts, sand enveloped. Leaf blades glabrous beneath, their ligules
1-7 mm high. Panicles somewhat loose, mainly widely diffuse, with distant spikelets; lower glume
almost 1.5 times shorter than upper one. Alkaline sands and meadows margins of solonchaks,
bottom of sayrs at springs, tallings and bottom of valleys with groundwaters close to surface; forms
pure communities, so-called cheegrass stands. Distributed in whole area of country. Forage plant
and Ders provides shelter for livestock from cold wind and provides favorable conditions for early
growth of young plants.
7. Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Keng
Family name: Graminae
Mongolian name:
8. Artemisia adamsii Bess.
Family name: Compositae
Mongolian name: (Omkhuu Sharalj)
English name: Wormwood
Xerophytic shrub and perennial forbs. Roots thin rhizomatous or rhizomes. Tomentose, hairy stem
and stem with narrow rhizomes, rather loosely grayish-arachnoid-pilose; top leaves sessile, middle
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and lower leaves bi or triple pinnate, oval and hairy. Flower heads form thin, hanging spikes on thin
pedicels. Flowers in July-August and seeds in August-September. With 15~30cm grows. Grows in
steppe stony mountain slopes and tailings, steppes, solonetzes and solonchaks around springs and
lakes, river banks, ravines. Distributed in most areas which in central and eastern. Medical and with
essential oil plant. Not important for forage. Recognized as an indicator of pasture degradation.
9. Carex spp (Carex pediformis C. A. Mey. Carex korshinskyi Kom.)
10. Allium spp (Allium Mongolicum Regel., Allium polyrhizum Turcz. ex Regel)
Family name: Liliaceae
Mongolian name: Taana
English name: Onion
Allium polyrrhizum is a C3 plant,
11. Chenopodium acuminatum Will.
Family name: Chenopodiaceae
Mongolian name: (Shornoi Luuli)
English name: Pigweed
Annual herb. Leaves with reddish translucent entire margin and short, often lost cusp at apex, ovate
or orbicular-ovate. Flowers in dense leafless in florescence’s. All flowers with perianth and
farinaceous bloom, always green, flowers forming no baccate axillary glomerule, flowers in
June-July, seeds in August-September. With 10-70 (100) cm grows. Grows in nomad camp sites,
around wells and springs, in abandoned fields, dry sandy, sayrs, alkaline meadows,
wormwood-grass steppes. Grows in whole region of country. Could be used as dry hay and silage.
Important for honey bees, used in traditional medicine.
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