黄河源区不同主体功能区草地恢复措施效果评价

位于青藏高原的黄河源区的高寒草地生态系统和牧民生计都极为脆弱,中国政府已经实施了一系列工程以恢复该区的退化草地。2014年青海省实施的主体功能区规划,依据资源环境承载能力、现有开发强度和发展潜力将研究区分为重点开发区、限制开发区和禁止开发区。本文旨在识别不同主体功能区采用的草地恢复措施并评估其生态和社会经济影响,以筛选有效的恢复措施。基于195份牧户调查问卷和遥感、统计数据,分析发现3类主体功能区的生态和社会经济特征差异:(1)研究区域应用了5种草地恢复措施;(2)2000-2016年间,重点开发区的草地恢复效果优于限制开发区和禁止开发区;(3)重点开发区的家庭纯收入最高;(4)重点开发区牧民对于草地保护和退化草地治理的认知和意愿比其他区域更为积极,该区牧民更多采用围栏+灭鼠+人工饲草地+暖棚舍饲措施。根据不同的发展目标,评估不同区域草地恢复措施的效果有助于促进草地可持续利用和理解区域生态承载力。

Effects of Grassland Restoration Approaches in Different Major Function-oriented Zones of the Headwater Region of the Yellow River in China

Given the high alpine grassland coverage and intensive animal grazing activity, the ecosystem and livelihood of the herders are extremely vulnerable in the headwater region of the Yellow River. A series of programs have been implemented by the Chinese government to restore degraded grasslands in this region, and major function-oriented zones(MFOZs) applied in 2014, have divided the region into three zones, i.e., the development prioritized, restricted, and prohibited zones, based on environmental carrying capacity, as well as the utilization intensity of grassland. This study identified various restoration approaches adopted in different MFOZs, and assessed the effects of the approaches in order to determine the most effective approaches. We collected 195 questionnaires from herders to analyze the effects of the various restoration approaches, and additional remote sensing and statistical data were also used for the analysis. Four distinct differences in the ecological and socioeconomic characteristics were found in three MFOZs.(1) Five technologies were applied in the study areas.(2) The grassland recovery rate was higher in development prioritized zones than in restricted and prohibited zones during 2000 and 2016, and especially high and very high coverage grasslands increased in the areas where crop-forage cultivation and grass seeding dominated in the prioritized zones.(3) The net income of households in the development prioritized zone was the best of all three zones.(4) The degree of awareness and willingness of herders to restore grassland was more positive in development prioritized zones than in restricted zones, where more herders adopted approaches with a combination of enclosure + deratization + crop-forage cultivation + warm shed. Based on these findings, it is recommended that decision-makers need to increase their efforts to narrow the gap of willingness and behavior between herders and other stakeholders, such as researchers and grassland administrators, in order to ensure grassland sustainability in the MFOZs. It is also beneficial to understand the effects of restoration on the ecological carrying capacities in different zones depending on the different development goals.