The possibilityof using prescribed burning and facilitation by grass as a restoration tool of vegetation and livestock production in degraded Mongolian steppe

Abstract

In the face of the current rapid degradation of steppe ecosystems and feed shortage in Mongolia due to overgrazing, there is an increasing need for the development of prompt management prescription for restoration. Spring burning may enhance the vegetation shift from the dominance of unpalatable forbs to palatable graminoids in degraded steppe formerly dominated by unpalatable forbs, although burning would accelerate the decline of plant production in sparse vegetated grasslands. Achnatherum splendis caught the livestock dung washed away by rain and created the rich mounds, where growth of forbs was enhanced. Our findings illustrate the possibility of using prescribed burning and facilitation by grass as a restoration tool of vegetation and livestock production in degraded Mongolian steppe.