The Relationships between the Density of Livestock and Grassland Degradation in Abagahoshu Steppe in China’s Inner Mongolia
SAIXIALT
＊, SAKAI Satoru
＊＊, KOIZUMI Takeei
＊＊＊＊
Department of Geography, Teachers’ College of Inner Mongolia, China
＊＊
Part−time Teacher, Syonan High School
＊＊＊
Department of Geography, Tokyo Gakugei University Abstract
In the nomadic grasslands in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, since 1983 when a new production responsibility system was introduced, settlement of nomads advanced. Consequently, over−pasturage from the higher density of livestock brought about degradation of grasslands.
In this study, the authors picked up one gacha (village) named Aratantgat from Abagahoshu region (prefecture), collected the data about domestic animals in the past 40 years, and carried out a comparative survey on grassland vegetation at the summer pastures and the winter pastures at five survey areas. As a result, the relationships between the degradation of grasslands and the density of livestock became clear.
The high density of livestock, especially conspicuous after 1995, caused the composition of grassland vegetation to change from the climax dominated by perennials into the degraded state dominated by annuals. Around the settled pasture points the percentage of annual plants was still higher.
Key words : Inner Mongolia, temperate steppe, nomadism, over−pasturage, degradation of grasslands
SAIXIALT,SAKAI,KOIZUMI：The Relationships between the Density of Livestock and Grassland Degradation in Abagahoshu Steppe in China s Inner Mongolia
―35―