The observation and research on the erosion of rehabilitating degraded grassland in Xilamuren area

Due to the drought climate and overgrazing, the grassland degraded severely, which not only influenced local environment, but also threatened ecology safety of areas around Beijing and Tianjin. Urgent control of degraded grassland and prevention of further deterioration was needed. Xilamuren grassland in Inner Mongolia was located in arid desert grassland area. After years of overgrazing, the grassland vegetation and soil degraded severely and the soil erosion was serious. But the degradation was not fatal yet, the grassland has not become desertification and salinization. So enclosing the grassland and letting it rehabilitate naturally, obvious effect would acquire after just 2 or 3 years. The related observation and research indicated that the yield of the grassland increased to 4.6 times, grass height increased to 9.2 times and coverage increased to 1.6 times after successive three years enclosure and natural rehabilitation. The grass community structure and the soil improved ecologically. The conservative function of the grassland strengthened greatly. The soil erosion decreased by 20%.