A Study On Ecological Carrying Capacity Of Ali Grasslands

Based on the analysis and evaluation of natural, social, economic resources and population in Ali, Tibet, we proposed ecological environment design for the region. With the fast economic development in Ali, over exploit and inappropriate utilization of resources contribute to the overall functional degradation in local grasslands, and influence the sustainable development of local livestock production, and even regional economy. Protecting and improving local ecological environment, utilizing resources appropriately and making use of ecological function of grassland are very important to sustainable development in Ali.We used integrated assess system to study ecological carrying capacity in Ali. Specifically, the indices of ecosystem flexibility, ecological carrying capacity and ecological pressure were used to assess the ecological carrying capacity of grasslands in Ali. The results are:(1) The indices of ecological flexibility in seven investigated Counties were divided into three levels. The ecosystem flexibility indices of Pulan County and Zhada County were0.73and0.66respectively, which indicated that their ecological flexibilities were relatively stable; the ecosystem flexibility indices of Geer County and Ritu County were0.51and0.57respectively, while the ecosystem flexibility indices of Gaize County and Cuoqin County were0.36and0.25respectively, which were the lowest.(2) The carrying capacity of Ali’s resources was relatively low. Geji County was in weak stable state, Geer County, Gaize County and Cuoqin County were in lower stable state, and Pulan County as well as Zhada County was in medium state.(3) All the seven investigated counties were in low pressure states except Gaize County, which was in a high pressure state because of water resources shortage. Based on the above results, we conclude that the main factor that influences ecological carrying capacity in Ali is the harsh environment condition. First, Ali is arid in summer and chilly in winter, and its ecological environment is very vulnerable. Moreover, its capacity per unit is low and its population increase is too fast. In addition, over herding causes the degradation of grassland. Finally, related solutions are proposed.