Effects of different grazing intensities on vegetation characteristics of desert steppe

Effects of different grazing intensities on plant community characteristics of desert steppe were studied through field investigation and data analysis. The results showed that species in communities tended to decrease with the increasing of grazing intensity. With the increasing of grazing intensity, important values of species which livestock grazed decreased, even disappeared, while important values of species which livestock did not graze increased. Plant community biomass, plant community height, plant community coverage and plant community intensity was significantly reduced (P＜0.05). Species richness index, homogeneity index and diversity index also showed a downward trend. This is related to the relatively small number of vegetation types and the poor anti-interference ability of the plant community in desert steppe.