Effects of grazing on the morphological characteristics and biodiversity of the forest steppe in Yili

In order to evaluate the influence of grazing on the plant biodiversity of grassland ecosystems, the quadrats with or without grazing in the forest steppe were investigate in Gongliu County, Yili. Six morphological characteristics indices including lifespan, height, growth form, spinescence, stem nature and leaf size were recorded and four biodiversity indices including Simpson, Shannon-Wiener, Brillouin and Fager index were calculated. The results showed that the number of species in the grazing plots increased compared with no grazing plots, especially the number of Medium, Erect, None Spinescence, Herbaceous and Woody significantly increased (P0.05). In the low altitude plots, both vegetation richness and abundance in the grazing plots increased compared with no grazing plots which had significantly higher (P0.05) Simpson and Shannon-Wiener index. The present study can provide some references for the construction of the nature reserve in Western Tianshan Mountains.