DOI: 10.5061/dryad.3ch50
title: Data from: Applying a dryland degradation framework for rangelands: the case of Mongolia

description: Livestock-caused rangeland degradation remains a major policy concern
 globally and the subject of widespread scientific study. This concern
 persists in part because it is difficult to isolate the effects of
 livestock from climate and other factors that influence ecosystem
 conditions. Further, degradation studies seldom use multiple plant and
 soil indicators linked to a clear definition of and ecologically-grounded
 framework for degradation assessment that distinguishes different levels
 of degradation. Here, we integrate two globally applicable rangeland
 degradation frameworks and apply them to a broad-scale empirical dataset
 for the country of Mongolia. We compare our assessment results with two
 other recent national rangeland degradation assessments in Mongolia to
 gauge consistency of findings across assessments and evaluate the utility
 of our framework. We measured livestock-use impacts across Mongolia’s
 major ecological zones: mountain and forest steppe, eastern steppe,
 steppe, and desert steppe. At 143 sites in 36 counties, we measured
 livestock-use and degradation indicators at increasing distances from
 livestock corrals in winter-grazed pastures. At each site, we measured
 multiple indicators linked to our degradation framework, including plant
 cover, standing biomass, palatability, species richness, forage quality,
 vegetation gaps and soil surface characteristics. Livestock use had no
 effect on soils, plant species richness or standing crop biomass in any
 ecological zone, but subtly affected plant cover and palatable plant
 abundance. Livestock effects were strongest in the steppe zone, moderate
 in the desert steppe and limited in the mountain/forest and eastern
 steppes. Our results aligned closely with those of two other recent
 country-wide assessments, suggesting that our framework may have
 widespread application. All three assessments found that very severe and
 irreversible degradation is rare in Mongolia (1-18% of land area), with
 most rangelands only slightly (33-53%) or moderately (25-40%) degraded. We
 conclude that very severe livestock-induced rangeland degradation is
 overstated in Mongolia. However, targeted rangeland restoration coupled
 with monitoring, adaptive management and stronger rangeland governance are
 needed to prevent further degradation where heavy grazing could cause
 irreversible change. Given the broad applicability of our degradation
 framework for Mongolia, we suggest it be tested for application in other
 temperate grasslands throughout Central Asia and North America.
description: Dryland Degradation
 Framework.csvThis is the data
 associated with the article "Applying a dryland degradation framework
 for rangelands: the case of Mongolia". This is the final data file of
 this research conducted in summer 2011 and 2012 collected from 428 plots
 (with size of 50 m x 50 m) in four ecological zones including 1) Mountain
 and forest steppe, 2) Eastern steppe, 3) Steppe and 4) Desert steppe. The
 lists of all variables (column) and definitions of terminology can be
 found in the metadata file.Dryland Degradation
 Framework.zip