Publication Date
2023
Location
Covington, KY
Description
Under the influence of climate change, the vulnerability of grassland ecosystems in the Mongolian Plateau has increased. Correspondingly, herdsmen need to adopt more livelihood adaptation strategies to cope with changes in climate and grassland environment. The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of breeding structure on grassland quality in Mongolian plateau. We select 20 border provinces/banners of Mongolia and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region for research, and combined statistical data with remote sensing data of 2007-2016. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is used to quantify the grassland vegetation quality. Results show that there are differences in livestock dynamics and grassland quality between Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, and higher sheep proportion leads to grassland degradation, and the impact varied in regions with different livestock carrying capacity. The initial grassland conditions could alleviate the negative impact of the sheep proportion on the grassland quality. The results of the mediation effect show that the primary industry GDP has a masking effect, i.e., the primary industry GDP can alleviate the negative influence of sheep proportion on grassland quality. The results of heterogeneity analysis showed that there were differences in the effect of sheep proportion on grassland quality under different livestock carrying capacity. In addition, after distinguishing countries, Mongolia did not show significant results due to its relatively stable breeding structure. While the breeding structure of Inner Mongolia had a greater negative impact on the grassland quality, which further indicated that the decline of sheep proportion has played a stronger ecological benefit.
Citation
Zhang, Y.; Huang, Z.; Wang, J.; Huang, Y.; Hao, T.; and Xu, G., "Can Changing Breeding Structure Serve as a Climate Adaptation Strategy? Evidence from a Comparative Study of China and Mongolia" (2023). IGC Proceedings (1997-2023). 1.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/XXV_IGC_2023/Policies/1
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
Can Changing Breeding Structure Serve as a Climate Adaptation Strategy? Evidence from a Comparative Study of China and Mongolia
Covington, KY
Under the influence of climate change, the vulnerability of grassland ecosystems in the Mongolian Plateau has increased. Correspondingly, herdsmen need to adopt more livelihood adaptation strategies to cope with changes in climate and grassland environment. The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of breeding structure on grassland quality in Mongolian plateau. We select 20 border provinces/banners of Mongolia and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region for research, and combined statistical data with remote sensing data of 2007-2016. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is used to quantify the grassland vegetation quality. Results show that there are differences in livestock dynamics and grassland quality between Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, and higher sheep proportion leads to grassland degradation, and the impact varied in regions with different livestock carrying capacity. The initial grassland conditions could alleviate the negative impact of the sheep proportion on the grassland quality. The results of the mediation effect show that the primary industry GDP has a masking effect, i.e., the primary industry GDP can alleviate the negative influence of sheep proportion on grassland quality. The results of heterogeneity analysis showed that there were differences in the effect of sheep proportion on grassland quality under different livestock carrying capacity. In addition, after distinguishing countries, Mongolia did not show significant results due to its relatively stable breeding structure. While the breeding structure of Inner Mongolia had a greater negative impact on the grassland quality, which further indicated that the decline of sheep proportion has played a stronger ecological benefit.
