## Box 1  
Meadows as defined in the Chinese context. Meadows in classic European understanding are agriculturally managed grasslands regularly mown for livestock forage (UNESCO classification) [14; 15]. In China, meadow refers to natural grasslands primarily composed of mesophilous perennial herbs that thrive under moderate moisture conditions. The meadows naturally occupy vast continuous areas with moderate moisture conditions that derive from atmospheric precipitation and with relatively low temperature that limits the growth of trees, such as alpine meadows on the QTP. However, in most other cases, meadows are azonal, occurring in the alpine, montane, plain and coastal areas of the temperate zones, with moisture originating from groundwater, runoff or melted snow and ice; these meadows are classified into typical, marshy and salt meadows, based on the ecological traits of their constituent species, that is, the dominance of mesophilous, xero-mesophilous, hygro-mesophilous or halo-mesophilous species in their composition [10; 16; 17]. Alpine meadow soils are shaped by intense soil-forming processes during pedogenesis and are characterized by the occurrence of semi-decomposed residual turf, closely interwoven root mats and a poorly intermingled humus layer. The _Kobresia_ alpine meadows are the most typical and most widespread of the alpine meadows in China [2; 4; 5]. _Kobresia_ species are both mesophilous and cold-and drought-tolerant. There are about 40 _Kobresia_ species, dominant ones include _K.pygmaea, K. humilis, K. capillifolia, K. graminifolia, K. setchwanensis, K. pratti, K. royleana, K. smirnovii_ and _K. bellardii_. There are also alpine meadows dominated by sedges such as _Carex schriostris_, _Blymsus sinocompressus_, bunchgrasses such as _Festuca ovina, F. pseudovina, Poa alpina, Anthoxanthin odoratum and_ forbs such as _Polygonum viviparum, P. sphaerostachyum, Ligularia virgaurea_ and _Alchemilla japonica_. The grasslands have vertical zonality [17] from relatively low altitude (2400 m ASL) to high altitude (>4500 m ASL). There is also horizontal zonality from south-east QTP to the northwest region [4; 13; 17]. The sequence includes alpine meadow, alpine steppe, desert steppe and alpine desert that include sand dunes. The dominant plants in these grasslands include at the lower elevations _Poa alpine, Festuca rubra, F. ovina_ and a suite of forbs in the genera _Anemone, Ranunculus, Stellaria_. On drier/higher sites _Kobresia humilis, Leymus chinensis, Stipa bacialensis, Stipa grandis, Stipa kyrilovii, Artemisia frigida_ and various cold and salt tolerant shrubs and subshrubs dominate. The botanical composition of alpine meadows depends to a large extent on the grazing pressure and seasonal management regime [1; 10; 18]. For example, Table 2 shows the list of common forage species and their ranking (based on abundance) in grasslands grazed under contrasting management regimes. There was more sustained grazing pressure on the SH areas than on the MH sites because of the effect of trampling [18; 19] and non-selective grazing. We measured the projected foliage cover to act as an indicator of grazing pressure along with biomass per m\({}^{2}\) and species abundance (Table 2). In the SH sites _Lightaria virgaurea_ (9.3% \(\pm\) 10% projected foliage cov [PFC]), _Anemone rivalaris_ var. _flore-minore_ (5.4 \(\pm\) 3.9 PFC) and _Taraxacum mongolicum_ (5.3% \(\pm\) 3.4% PFC) are regarded as indicators of land degradation because they are toxic or unpalatable plants that exploit gaps exposed by grazing pressure. Poisonous plants were observed to be more common on SH land. This suggests that the SH management regime may be causing further serious degradation and that productive forage species may be on the decline [20; 21; 22]. Field work to substantiate this is underway. Apart from the actual management regime (where, when and the duration of grazing at any specific location) there is the grazing pressure or stocking rate.