Evaluation of protection imparted by national park status based on comparison of steppe vegetation inside and outside Hustai National Park, Mongolia

Abstract

We compared steppe vegetation inside and outside Hustai National Park near the capital of Mongolia to evaluate the effects of national park protection. Grazing has been prohibited in the park since 1993 but allowed to continue in the buffer zone adjacent to the park boundary. Using phytosociological methods, we conducted vegetation surveys in eight stands in the park and 25 stands in the buffer zone. In particular, we compared vegetation cover, surface sward height, and species richness between the park and the buffer zone. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) was used to identify protective effects on species composition imparted by the park. The results demonstrate that vegetation cover, surface sward height, and species richness were significantly higher in the park than in the buffer zone. Moreover, NMDS results demonstrate that the stands exhibited different spatial patterns in each area, suggesting that protective measures also affected species composition. These differences between the areas appear to have occurred owing to a combination of vegetation recovery in the park and degradation in the buffer zone.