Responses of community characteristics and productivity to a warming gradient in a Kobresia pygmaea meadow of Tibetan Plateau

Alpine Grassland Degradation and Its Restoration in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

“…The QTP is a sensitive area to climate change, and in recent years, global warming due to the greenhouse effect has exacerbated the overall deterioration of the alpine grassland ecosystem, resulting in an increase in temperature and severe desertification and degradation of grasslands on the QTP [39]. Among climate change factors, temperature and precipitation play an important role [66], as temperature increases, soil moisture decreases [67,68], the number of shallow-rooted plants decreases due to their poor drought tolerance [69], and the proportion of grasses adapted to arid conditions increases [70], but reduced light intensity in the lower layers of the community put low plants at a competitive disadvantage and inhibits seed germination [71], which, in turn, changes the species composition of the grassland and significantly reduces species richness in alpine grasslands [72,73]. However, some studies showed that warming did not significantly affect plant diversity [74].…”