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SCHRIFTENREIHE Institut für Pflanzenernährung und Bodenkunde ...

SCHRIFTENREIHE Institut für Pflanzenernährung und Bodenkunde ...

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Chapter 2 Spatial variability of soil properties affected by grazing intensity in Inner Mongolia grassland<br />

temperate semi-arid continental climate, the annual mean air temperature was<br />

0.7 °C and the annual total precipitation was 343 mm, of which 60-80% was<br />

received from June to August. The experimental site is on a smooth rolling<br />

landscape, approximately 1270 m in altitude with a mean relative height of 20-30<br />

m and slope of an inclination 100 cm, followed by an Ach-layer.<br />

Fig. 2.1. Location of geostatistical areas in the five plots. UG 79: ungrazed since 1979, UG 99:<br />

ungrazed since 1999, WG: winter grazed, CG: continuous grazed, and HG: heavily grazed. Each<br />

plot has an area of 105 m×135 m. Sampling points are spaced every 15 m with a subgrid spacing<br />

of 5 m (the orthogonal boxes with dash line in WG and CG). Two larger geostatistical grids in WG<br />

and CG have an area of 300 m×550 m with a sampling points spacing of 50 m and a subgrid<br />

spacing of 10 m.<br />

Before 1979, the whole area is lightly grazed by herds that are composed of<br />

70-90% sheep and 10-30% goats. Our measurements were conducted in five<br />

field plots of different grazing intensities: two ungrazed plots, fenced since 1979<br />

and 1999 respectively (hereinafter referred to as UG 79, 24 ha and UG 99, 35<br />

ha); and three grazed plots, one grazed only during winter with 0.5 sheep units<br />

15

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