Grazing intensity impacts on soil carbon stocks of Western Himalayan Alpine paddocks

Autor: Raja Waqar Ahmed Khan, Hamayun Shaheen, Ansar Mehmood, Shazad Naseer Awan
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Zdroj: Carbon Management, Vol 10, Iss 6, Pp 533-540 (2019)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1758-3004
1758-3012
17583004
DOI: 10.1080/17583004.2019.1667701
Popis: Overgrazing in the fragile Himalayan alpine grassland ecosystems is a major cause of substantial loss of soil organic carbon (SOC). The current study was conducted to analyze the effects of grazing on SOC in seven alpine grasslands of Kashmir. SOC was found to be greatly influenced by severe grazing and varied between 43.1 and 120 Mg/ha. Average SOC was found to be 70.5 Mg/ha; it was 90.6 Mg/ha in non-grazed areas (NGAs) and 50.4 Mg/ha in highly grazed areas (HGAs). The highest value of SOC was 139.1 Mg/ha (in NGA) whereas the lowest was 30.3 Mg/ha (HGA). An average of 1632.7 domestic animals reserved by 278 households were recorded per site. The study determined that an increased herd size results in a decreased SOC level. Grazing regime was a countering factor for SOC at all study sites and caused SOC loss of up to 103.3 Mg/ha. Besides intensive grazing, SOC was also found to be influenced by site physiognomy and microclimatic variations. Grazing management is urgently needed in the Western Himalayan alpine grasslands to enhance SOC levels.
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