Background: Grazing is one of the main grassland disturbances in China, and it is essential to quantitatively evaluate the effects of different grazing intensities on grassland production for grassland carbon budget and sustainable use.
Methods: A meta-analysis was conducted to reveal general response patterns of grassland production to grazing in China. We used weighted log response ratio to assess the effect size, and 95% confidence intervals to give a sense of the precision of the estimate. Grazing effects were estimated as a percentage change relative to control (%).
Results: A total of 48 studies, including 251 data sets, were included in the meta-analysis. Grazing significantly decreased total biomass by 58.34% (95% CI: -72.04%∼-37.94%, CI: Confidence Interval), increased root/shoot ratio by 30.58% and decreased litter by 51.41% (95% CI: -63.31%∼-35.64%). Aboveground biomass and belowground biomass decreased significantly by 42.77% (95% CI: -48.88%∼-35.93%) and 23.13% (95% CI: -39.61%∼-2.17%), respectively. However, biomass responses were dependent on grazing intensity and environmental conditions. Percentage changes in aboveground biomass to grazing showed a quadratic relationship with precipitation in light grazing intensity treatment and a linear relationship in moderate and heavy grazing intensity treatment, but did not change with temperature. Grazing effects on belowground biomass did not change with precipitation or temperature. Compared to the global average value, grazing had greater negative effects on grassland production in China.
Conclusions: Grazing has negative effects on grassland biomass and the grazing effects change with environmental conditions and grazing intensity, therefore flexible rangeland management tactics that suit local circumstances are necessary to take into consideration for balancing the demand of grassland utilization and conservation.