Resistance Assessment And Spatial Demarcating Of Utilization And Protection Regions Of Inner Mongolia Grassland

Grassland is the core and carrier of animal husbandry development in China,and is also the important ecological barrier of northern China. For a long time,Chinese grassland has been subjected to serious degradation under the double pressure of the climate change and grazing. In view of this background and condition,based on the meteorological data and multi-source remote sensing data, we chose the Inner Mongolia as the research area. The objective of this study was to evaluate the vegetation condition and pressure resistance of the Inner Mongolia grassland during 2001-2010, and to demarcate the utilization and protection area of the Inner Mongolia grassland based on its vegetation condition, contribution rate of the state layer and pressure layer, and pressure resistance.The results show that (1) The indicators such as NPP, LAI, FVC, PUE, and NEP showed obvious spatial difference and longitudinal zonality. The annual fluctuation of the indicators of grassland in west of Ordos, the Otindag Sandy Land region andwest of Hulunbuir were relatively large, while the annual fluctuation of the indicators of grassland in east of Xilin Gol and the center of Hulunbuir were relatively small.(2) The resistance of Inner Mongolia grassland show evident zonal distribution. The grasslands exhibiting high-level resistance were mainly distributed in the southeast of Tongliao, southwest of Ordos, east of Alax and the north of Bayannur, and the with low-level resistance of grasslands were mainly distributed along Hohhot-Baotou-Ulanqab-Xilin Gol. The area percentage for the grassland with high-level, moderate-level and low-level were 18%, 47% and 35%, respectively.(3)The spatial overlay analysis showed that top priority of protection should be given to the grassland in Balinzuo banner and Balinyou banner of Chifeng. The grassland in Abaga Banner and Xilinhot of Xilin Gol, the center of Hulunbuir and southwest of Chifeng exhibited strong resistance, and can be utilized reasonably. (4) During 2001-2010, the grassland in seriously degraded grassland and sandstorm source area on which the projects mainly focused, experienced obvious restoration process and exhibited high-level resistance. The livestock numbers also increased over the period,and the ecological restoration projects and alternatives of land use management may be the inherent driving force. However, the grassland in the original un-degraded or light degraded grassland showed degradation trend and low-level resistance, while the livestock numbers decreased during 2001-2010. This process can be attributed to the overgrazing and the neglect by the ecological restoration projects in these regions.