Effects of cattle grazing on small mammal communities in the Hulunber meadow steppe.

ABSTRACT: Small mammals play important roles in many ecosystems, and understanding their response to disturbances such as cattle grazing is fundamental for developing sustainable land use strategies. However, how small mammals respond to cattle grazing remains controversial. A potential cause is that most of previous studies adopt rather simple experimental designs based solely on the presence/absence of grazing, and are thus unable to detect any complex relationships between diversity and grazing intensity. In this study, we conducted manipulated experiments in the Hulunber meadow steppe to survey small mammal community structures under four levels of grazing intensities. We found dramatic changes in species composition in native small mammal communities when grazing intensity reached intermediate

SUBMITTER: Cao C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5012293 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature