Real-time monitoring of grass and animal for steppe management in Inner Mongolia, China

摘要

Steppe grasslands in Inner Mongolia have been utilized for livestock farming by nomadic people over several centuries. At the same time, grassland was conserved as an invaluable ecosystem. However, in recent years, desertification of grassland is encroaching mainly because overgrazing by animals. Grassland condition will be decided with the balance of grass production and herbage intake by animal. The field experiment was conducted under the collaboration of Institute of Botany, in Chinese Academy of Sciences from 1997 to 2004 in order to make real-time monitoring system. The study site is in Xilingol steppe, Inner Mongolia. As the results, satellite remote sensing using NOAA/AVHRR and Terra/MODIS data revealed seasonal changes of grassland biomass and herbage quality. Estimated aboveground biomass in August (2001) decreased nearly 40 % comparing with that of 14 years ago in Xilingol steppe. Biomass fluctuated year by year, affected by climate conditions. NDVI of grassland could be expressed by rainfall and air-temperature of the previous month. In addition, progresses in IT such as GPS and GIS technologies clarified animal behavior on grassland. Jaw sensor could record jaw movement of grazing sheep. Such information offered us the location, behavior and spending time of animal on grassland, which is capable to calculate grazing intensity. It might be useful to determine carrying capacity of the site under the specific land and climate conditions.