Evaluation of grassland resources in the Qinghai Lake basin

The water bodies, mountains, and grasslands within the Qinghai Lake basin act as a barrier to the deserts of western Qinghai and are an important barrier for maintaining the ecological security of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Grassland resources are the main ecological resources for the socio-economic development of the Qinghai Lake basin and a key factor for ecological protection. A series of surveys were conducted assess the status of grassland resources and the grassland ecological environment in the Qinghai Lake basin. The second natural grassland resource survey of Qinghai Province, the data from the grassland resource inventory of Qinghai Province and three surveys of national land were used as the main dataset, which was and superimposed and combined for processing. Meanwhile, ground surveys and was conducted. The area, productivity, grade, degradation, and grass–livestock balance of the grassland in Qinghai Lake basin were investigated and evaluated. The results have shown that there are 27 types of grasslands in seven categories in the Qinghai Lake basin, with a total area of 2084096.20 ha. The alpine meadow category has the largest area, accounting for 68.95% of the basin grassland area. The total annual fresh grass yield from the grassland in the Qinghai Lake basin is 53.36 × 10⁸ kg. The annual grass yield per hectare is 2560 kg·ha⁻¹,with alpine meadows having the highest yield, accounting for 68.50% of the total grassland yield from the basin. The overall quality of grassland resources in the Qinghai Lake basin is medium to high, with Grade II as well as Grade 4 and 3 grasslands dominating. The area of degraded grassland in the Qinghai Lake basin is 1261515.35 ha², accounting for 60.53% of the total area of grassland in the basin. Moderate degradation has dominated, accounting for 68.05% of the degraded grassland area. The percentages of mild and severe degradation were 14.87% and 17.08% respectively. The overall overload rate of Qinghai Lake basin was 5.55%, which attains the balance required for forage grass and livestock.