Guest Editors
Dr. Jianqiang Qian, College of Forestry, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China
E-mail: jq.qian@henau.edu.cn
Dr. Junfeng Wang, School of Life Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China
Email address: wangjf150@nenu.edu.cn
Dr. Qing Zhang, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China
Email address: qzhang82@163.com
Dr. Wentao Luo, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, China
Email address: wentaoluo@iae.ac.cn
Summary
China’s grasslands, as the third largest grassland ecosystem in the world, accounted for 30% of the national land area and 10% of the global grassland area. The grassland ecosystems in China are classified into four major types: meadow steppes, typical steppes, desert steppes and alpine steppes, with a combined distribution ranging from the northeastern plain adjacent to Mongolia to south of the Tibetan Plateau. This ecosystem provides multiple ecosystem functions and services, such as biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration, and sand fixation.
The predicted global changes, such as climate change and human activities, are expected to exert profound effects on grassland structure and functioning in China. Global change can influence the ecophysiological traits and the distribution pattern of plant species, species growth rate, and community productivity. These changes may disrupt the delicate balance of the grassland ecosystem, potentially leading to shifts in community composition and ecosystem functions. The most grasslands have been facing various degree of degradation in China due to the joint effects of climate change and human disturbances. Therefore, it is essential to comprehensively understand the effects of global change on grassland ecosystems at various scales and work towards finding innovative solutions to mitigate these effects in China.
The Special Issue will greatly promote the theoretical progress in grassland ecology under global change and provide key insights into the maintenance of grassland ecosystem functions and the restoration of degraded grasslands in China. We welcome original research, reviews, and methods related to the effects of global change on grassland and the responses of individual, population, community and ecosystem to global climate changes (e.g., warming and alteration in precipitation) and human activities (e.g., grazing, mowing, and fertilization).
Keywords
biodiversity, climate change, community dynamics, disturbance, ecosystem functioning
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