title: Anthropogenic disturbances are key to maintaining the biodiversity of grasslands.
abstract: Although anthropogenic disturbances are often perceived as detrimental to plant biodiversity, the relationship between biodiversity and disturbance remains unclear. Opinions diverge on how natural diversity is generated and maintained. We conducted a large-scale investigation of a temperate grassland system in Inner Mongolia and assessed the richness-disturbance relationship using grazing intensity, the primary anthropogenic disturbance in the region. Vascular plant-species richness peaked at an intermediate level of anthropogenic disturbance. Our results support the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis, which provides a valid and useful measure of biodiversity at a metacommunity scale, indicating that anthropogenic disturbances are necessary to conserve the biodiversity of grassland systems.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China.|Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Science and Ministry of Water Resource, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China.
authors.forename: Z Y
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China.|Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Science and Ministry of Water Resource, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jiao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Grassland Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, 010010, PR China.
authors.forename: Y H
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: University of Missouri, Division of Plant Sciences, 108 Waters Hall, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Kallenbach
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000821:Animal Feed; D044822:Biodiversity; D002681:China; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D065948:Grassland; D006802:Human Activities; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010944:Plants / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism; D006109:Poaceae / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D011157:Population Dynamics; D013045:Species Specificity