Preliminary study on range conditions of alpine Kobresia meadows under different degradation degrees

The range conditions of alpine Kobresia meadows under different degradation degrees (nondegraded, light degraded, moderate degraded and heavy degraded) were studied. The results showed that aboveground and underground biomass, height of vegetation community, depth of sod, area of bare ground, number of plant species and soil moisture had significant difference with the degraded alpine Kobresia meadow. The aboveground biomass and belowground biomass decreased by 43.2 and 10.1 g/m2 respectively in the heavy degradation stage, and the largest value of bare ground proportion was 65 m2 and the lowest soil moisture was 22.83%. The rodent burrow density showed a V pattern along with the degradation degrees. The dominant plant in community was changed from sedge and gramineous to forbs.