Effects of enclosure on the quantitative characteristics of alpine vegetation

A field survey was conducted to investigate the quantitative characteristics of alpine vegetation among grazing area and fenced area. The results of this study showed that the fence obviously increased the coverage, height and biomass of alpine vegetation, proportion of palatable forage group, which included grasses, sedges and other forages, and decreased the proportion of unpalatable forage. Meanwhile, the fence changed the community composition structure and dominant values of plant species, indicating that the fence increased plant diversity and the important values of some palatable forage, and decreased the important values of some unpalatable forage.