Abstract With 450,000 km 2 Kobresia (syn. Carex) pygmaea dominated pastures in the
eastern Tibetan highlands are the world's largest pastoral alpine ecosystem forming a …

Grasslands in northern China and the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau are particularly important to
both ecosystem functioning and pastoral livelihoods. Although there are numerous …

Grazing represents the most extensive use of land worldwide. Yet its impacts on ecosystem
services remain uncertain because pervasive interactions between grazing pressure …

Desertification is a change in soil properties, vegetation or climate, which results in a
persistent loss of ecosystem services that are fundamental to sustaining life. Desertification …

The Palaearctic steppes range from the Mediterranean basin towards China, forming one of
the largest continuous terrestrial biomes. The literature on steppe ecology and conservation …

Abstract The Mongolian Steppe is one of the largest remaining grassland ecosystems.
Recent studies have reported widespread decline of vegetation across the steppe and about …

Predictions of climate change and its impacts are highly uncertain at regional and local
levels. Downscaled models often operate with a too coarse scale and look at standard …

Increasing management intensity of grassland through increased grazing intensity, mowing
frequency and fertilizer input have attracted more attention to the consequences of …

In May 2013, the contributors to this volume were invited to attend a meeting in rural
Somerset, UK, to present early drafts of their chapters and discuss the organization of this …

Mongolian rangelands have experienced warming temperatures and increasing livestock
densities over the past 20 years. Remote sensing studies report widespread degradation …