Herbivore disturbance can affect the grassland ecosystem services though
creating extensive disturbances vegetation and soil. This study focused
on plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) disturbance to investigate the
effect of disturbance by small burrowing herbivores on ecosystem
services of alpine grasslands though five sites. In this study, the
palatable plant biomass, plant species richness, soil water storage,
soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium stocks
were used to estimate the forage availability, biodiversity
conservation, water conservation, carbon sequestration and soil nutrient
maintenance. This study showed that plateau pika disturbance was related
to higher plant species richness and soil organic carbon stock,
associated with lower palatable plant biomass and soil water storage,
and had no effect on total potassium stock, whereas the responses of
soil total nitrogen and phosphorus stocks to plateau pika disturbance
were different among sites. The palatable plant biomass, plant species
richness, soil organic carbon, total nitrogen and phosphorus stocks
showed downward parabolas, whereas the soil water storage showed a
decreasing trend with increasing plateau pika disturbance intensity.
These results indicated that the role of plateau pikas is dependent not
only on the management target of alpine grasslands but also on the
plateau pika disturbance intensity.
Soil organic carbon contents, aggregate stability, and humic acid composition in different alpine grasslands in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
