Diversity-productivity relationship of plant communities in typical grassland during the long- term grazing exclusion succession

AimsGrazing exclusion is an important intervention for restoring degraded grasslands.Understanding the changes of grassland productivity and plant diversity during the long-term grazing exclusion succession, as well as the relationship between diversity and productivity, are helpful for grassland restoration management and utilization. MethodsThis study was conducted in a typical grassland system with a long-term grazing exclusion gradient, located at Yunwu Mountain National Nature Reserve in Ningxia Huizu Autonomous Region.The grassland communities under continuous grazing, 9 years of grazing exclusion, 26 years of grazing exclusion, and 34 years of grazing exclusion were chosen as the study objects.We tracked changes in aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP), species diversity and functional diversity, and quantified the relationships between diversity and productivity. Important findingsThe results showed that grazing exclusion significantly increased ANPP, litter biomass, ©植物生态学报 Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology