The impacts of grazing on soil heterogeneity and changing soil dynamics on desert and semiarid grasslands using both classical and geostatistical methods of analysis were examined in a study in Inner Mongolia, northern China at the Naimen Desertification Research Station (NDRS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (42° 41’-45° 15’ N, 118° 35’-123° 30’ E). The severely degraded grassland ecosystem on the site was subject to five years of moderate and heavy grazing from 1992-1996 was followed by five years of rest/recovery from 1997-2001. During the grazing period, long-term effects of different grazing intensities were examined through both annual soil and vegetation samples. The main variables of concern for vegetation were ground cover and surface litter, whereas soil was examined through variability in soil particle size distribution, soil organic carbon, soil total nitrogen, pH and electric conductivity. Field and plant scale soil heterogeneity was examined during the grazing and recovery periods.
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