Comparison of plant and soil characters between healthy and degraded Kobresia meadows in Yushu， Qinghai

The study was made on the variation and contribution of plant and soil nutrients related to healthy and degraded Kobresia meadows, and plant heights, plant coverage, soil organic matter, total soil nitrogen and total soil phosphorus were also tested. The results indicated that the plant coverage, plant height and herbiferous depth sharply decreased (P0.05) as well as soil water content, soil organic matter and total soil nitrogen. On the contrary, burrowing rodent density and bare land areas sharply increased (P0.05). The principal component analysis showed that soil factors had influence to the dominated pasture biomass. Soil factors had highly multiple collinearity to another environment factors. In conclusion, degradation of Kobresia meadows leads to the change of soil property.