Adances in evaluation indices and methods to assess effects of climatic changes on grassland ecosystem

Grassland is the main vegetation type of terrestrial ecosystems, which is an important ecological protective barrier in China. The physical environment (water environment, soil environment, atmospheric environment and other organisms), structure (population, community, landscape) and function (production function, ecological function) of grassland ecosystem are changing under the circumstances of climatic changes. The present paper described the evaluation indices, methods and effects of climatic changes in details, which could provide reference for related researches.