Effects of shortterm enclose on the community characteristics of three types of degraded alpine grasslands in the north Tibet

An experiment was conducted to determine the response of alpine grassland communities to enclose in the northern Tibetan by monitoring the community change of three types of degraded alpine grasslands. The results of this study showed that the shortterm enclose greatly increased vegetation height, cover and aboveground biomass, and the number of plant species in the three types of degraded alpine grasslands. The response of cover and height of alpine steppe and alpine meadow to the shortterm enclose was slower than the response of the number of plant species of alpine steppe and alpine meadow to the shortterm enclose. The shortterm enclose quickly increased the aboveground biomass of the three alpine grasslands, but did not affect the plant species diversity of alpine grassland communities. This study suggested that the combination of the shortterm enclose and fertilizer was the effective way to restore the degraded alpine steppes and alpine meadows and the combination of the longterm enclose and fertilizer and reseeding benefited the restoration of degraded alpine desert grassland.