Species diversity and functional groups responses to different seasonal grazing in alpine grassland

To determine the effects of grazing on alpine grassland ecosystem, the response of the diversity and the functional group to different seasonal grazing which was divided warm-season grazing (June to October) and cold-season grazing (the other months) in alpine grassland was analyzed. The results showed that the diversity and evenness index in warm-season grassland was significantly greater than that in cold-season grassland, however, the richness index was reverse. showed a contrary trend. Above-ground biomass, the proportion of sedge and legume function group in warm-season grazing grassland was significantly greater than that in cold-season grazing grassland. Our results suggest that under a suitable grazing intensity, warm-season grazing would be beneficial to maintain the higher species diversity and evenness sustainability, and cold-season grazing would be beneficial to accumulate above-ground biomass in alpine grassland.