2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Effects of global change and human impact on sustainable use of Mongolian nomadic pastures
| Project/Area Number |
14405037
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 海外学術 |
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| Research Field |
Environmental dynamic analysis
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| Research Institution | Kyoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
FUJITA Noboru Kyoto University, Center for Ecological Research, Assistant Professor, 生態学研究センター, 助手 (50093307)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
YAMAMURA Norio Kyoto University, Center for ecological Research, Professor, 生態学研究センター, 教授 (70124815)
WADA Eitaro Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Frontier Research Center for Global Change, Program Director, 地球環境フロンティア研究センター, 生態系変動予測プログラムディレクター (40013578)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2002 – 2004
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| Keywords | Overgrazing / Land cultivation / Soil alkalization / Forest regeneration / Water cycle / Species diversity / Productivity / Traditional nomadism |
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| Research Abstract |
In Mongolia, overgrazing, residence fixation, land cultivation and its abandonment, and grazing in forests has been advanced recently due to increase in cashmere goat, urbanization and the market economy. Style of traditional nomadism which lasted more than one thousand years and land use of pastures have been changed. Continuous soil disturbance by overgrazing and agricultural tilling make pastures unsuitable for nomadic use as the result of soil alkalization and domination by grazing-tolerant plants even in the forest zone. On the other hand, temporary soul disturbance caused by seasonal residence does not produce soil alkalization and domination by grazing-tolerant plants due to seasonal and yearly transfer of residence. Livestock grazing itself increases biodiversity and productivity of pasture plants unless the grazing is too hard. Cutting experiments at different heights of sheep and goat, and cattle showed that higher annual production in the valley and on the slope was produced
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by cattle-height cutting and sheep and goat height cutting, respectively. Leading cattle into valley and sheep and goat onto slope as conducted in traditional nomadisim is reasonable use of pastures. Grazing-tolerant plants in edible plants does not decrease the productivity of edible plants but increase it due to easing the soil drying by shading from the sum. Tree ages of forests adjacent to pastures are all old more than several ten years, and there are no saplings in them. These mean that the forests regenerated several ten years before but that they have not regenerate during several ten years because of grazing in them. Dying away _of forests adjacent to pastures may promote drying of the pastures, because forests have the function of water preservation in water cycle. It is ascertained that the intermediate, adequate grazing pressure of livestock which maintains high biodiversity of pasture plants has fitted nomadism for Mongolian nature, and nomadism has continued more than one thousand years in Mongolia as the sustainable primary industries. Less
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