Dataset Information

Assessing restoration benefit of grassland ecosystem incorporating preference heterogeneity empirical data from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

ABSTRACT: The evaluation of grassland ecosystem restoration benefit considering herdsmen's preference is an important reference for the formulation of grassland protection policy. This study aims to evaluate the marginal benefits of grassland ecosystem services by using choice experiment and mixed logit (ML) model, and a latent class model (LCM) is estimated to identify and explain the heterogeneity of herdsmen's preference for the various functions of the grassland ecosystem, so as to estimate the benefits of grassland ecosystem restoration in Siziwang Banner and Damao Banner of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The results reveal that the restoration benefit of the grassland ecosystem in the two banners is nearly 341.1 million RMB per year. The application of latent class model highlights three potential segments of the herdsmen with different preferences. The social, economic and environmental attitudinal characteristics of herdsmen have significant impacts on their preferences. Thus, to improve the universality of grassland ecological restoration policy, herdsmen's preferences should be thoroughly investigated before policy formulation and implementation. Meanwhile, it is important to publicize the grassland ecosystem services, to popularize the role of wildlife in the ecosystem, and to realize the benign interaction between wildlife protection and animal husbandry development.

SUBMITTER: Cai Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7361097 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Assessing restoration benefit of grassland ecosystem incorporating preference heterogeneity empirical data from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Cai Yu Y Zhao Minjuan M Shi Yuxing Y Khan Imran I

Ecological indicators 20200715

The evaluation of grassland ecosystem restoration benefit considering herdsmen's preference is an important reference for the formulation of grassland protection policy. This study aims to evaluate the marginal benefits of grassland ecosystem services by using choice experiment and mixed logit (ML) model, and a latent class model (LCM) is estimated to identify and explain the heterogeneity of herdsmen's preference for the various functions of the grassland ecosystem, so as to estimate the benefi ...[more]

PMID: 32834781

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundLivestock grazing is the most prevalent land use of grasslands worldwide. The effects of grazing on plant C, N, P contents and stoichiometry across hierarchical levels, however, have rarely been studied; particularly whether the effects are mediated by resource availability and the underpinning mechanisms remain largely unclear.Methodology/principal findingsUsing a multi-organization-level approach, we examined the effects of grazing on the C, N, and P contents and stoichiometry in plant tissues (leaves and roots) and linkages to ecosystem functioning across three vegetation types (meadow, meadow steppe, and typical steppe) in the Inner Mongolia grassland, China. Our results showed that the effects of grazing on the C, N, and P contents and stoichiometry in leaves and roots differed substantially among vegetation types and across different hierarchical levels (species, functional group, and vegetation type levels). The magnitude of positive effects of grazing on leaf N and P contents increased progressively along the hierarchy of organizational levels in the meadow, whereas its negative effect on leaf N content decreased considerably along hierarchical levels in both the typical and meadow steppes. Grazing increased N and P allocation to aboveground in the meadow, while greater N and P allocation to belowground was found in the typical and meadow steppes. The differences in soil properties, plant trait-based resource use strategies, tolerance or defense strategies to grazing, and shifts in functional group composition are likely to be the key mechanisms for the observed patterns among vegetation types.Conclusions/significanceOur findings suggest that the enhanced vegetation-type-level N contents by grazing and species compensatory feedbacks may be insufficient to prevent widespread declines in primary productivity in the Inner Mongolia grassland. Hence, it is essential to reduce the currently high stocking rates and restore the vast degraded steppes for sustainable development of arid and semiarid grasslands.

Project description:Biodiversity underpins grassland ecological functions and productive capacities. By studying the mechanisms for the maintenance of species diversity in animal communities, we can provide important theoretical guidance for the optimization of grazing management and biodiversity protection. The typical grassland of Xilingol in Inner Mongolia, China, was used as the experimental area, and a grazing intensity experiment was set up. This consisted of four gradient levels that were grazed by sheep, which were available for continuous monitoring, namely control standard sheep unit·day·hectare-1·year-1 (CK, 0 SSU·d·hm-2y-1), light grazing (LG, 170 SSU·d·hm-2·y-1), moderate grazing (MG, 340 SSU·d·hm-2·y-1), and high grazing (HG, 510 SSU·d·hm-2·y-1). Nine consecutive years of multi-indicator monitoring of vegetation was carried out from 2014-2022, using monitoring data coupled with time series and inter-annual climatic (relative moisture index, RMI) fluctuations. This was done to analyze the impacts of disturbances, such as grazing use and climatic fluctuations, on the diversity of species and above-ground productivity of the community, thereby exploring the relationship between diversity and productivity, and provide possible explanations for the emergence of a range of ecological responses. The statistical analysis methods used were One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), general linear regression and mixed-effects models. The main conclusions of this study are as follows: (1) The grassland in the experimental area under CK had the highest diversity and productivity and the ecosystem was better able to buffer the negative impacts of climatic drought. Furthermore, the effect of climate on productivity and diversity weakened as the intensity of grazing increased. (2) LG to MG had a constant diversity. (3) Grazing utilization changed the relationship between community species diversity and aboveground productivity by releasing spatial community resources, altering the structure of plant communities, weakening competitive exclusion, and strengthening complementary effects. However, under all of the conditions there is a brief stage in the time series when diversity is stimulated to increase, and the higher the grazing intensity, the earlier this occurs.

Project description:Porcine parvoviruses (PPV) and porcine circoviruses type 2 (PCV2) are widespread in the pig population. Recently, it was suggested that PPV7 may stimulate PCV2 and PCV3 replication. The present study aimed to make detection and molecular characterization of PPV7 for the first time in eastern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. Twenty-seven of ninety-four samples (28.72%) and five in eight pig farms were PPV7 positive. Further detection showed that the co-infection rate of PPV7 and PCV2 was 20.21% (19/94), and 9.59% (9/94) for PPV7 and PCV3. In addition, the positive rate of PPV7 in PCV2 positive samples was higher than that in PCV2 negative samples, supporting that PCV2 could act as a co-factor for PPV7 infection. In total, four PPV7 strains were sequenced and designated as NM-14, NM-19, NM-4, and NM-40. The amplified genome sequence of NM-14 and NM-40 were 3,999nt in length, while NM-19 and NM-4 were 3,996nt with a three nucleotides deletion at 3,097-3,099, resulting in an amino acid deletion in the Cap protein. Phylogenetic analysis based on the capsid amino acid (aa) sequences showed that 52 PPV7 strains were divided into two clades, and the four PPV7 strains in this study were all clustered in clade 1. The genome and capsid amino acid sequence of the four PPV7 strains identified in this study shared 80.0-96.9% and 85.9-100% similarity with that of 48 PPV7 reference strains selected in NCBI. Simplot analysis revealed that NM-19 and NM-4 strains were probably produced by recombination of two PPV7 strains from China. The amino acid sequence alignment analysis of capsid revealed that the four PPV7 strains detected in Inner Mongolia had multiple amino acid mutations in the 6 B cell linear epitopes compared with the reference strains, suggesting that the four PPV7 strains may have different characteristics in receptor binding and immunogenicity. In summary, this paper reported the PPV7 infection and molecular characterization in the eastern of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region for the first time, which is helpful to understand the molecular epidemic characteristics of PPV7.

Dataset Information

Assessing restoration benefit of grassland ecosystem incorporating preference heterogeneity empirical data from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Publications

Assessing restoration benefit of grassland ecosystem incorporating preference heterogeneity empirical data from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets