文章基本信息

标题：Rangeland Management in Sagarmatha (Mount Everest) National Park and Buffer Zone, Nepal: An Ecological Perspective
本地全文：下载
作者：Khem Raj Bhattarai ; Thakur Prasad Upadhyay
期刊名称：Mountain Research and Development
印刷版ISSN：0276-4741
电子版ISSN：1994-7151
出版年度：2013
卷号：33
期号：1
页码：19-28
DOI：10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-00077.1
摘要：Sustainable management of rangeland ecosystems has direct implications for conservation of biological diversity and for the livelihoods of local communities in the Himalayan region in general and the Sagarmatha National Park and Buffer Zone (SNPBZ) in particular. This study aims to analyze the status of rangeland management in the SNPBZ from an ecological perspective. We used multivariate and bivariate analysis and geographic information system techniques to analyze ecological data and land use trends. A significant annual change with a 3.38% decrease in glacier area was observed between 1978 and 1996. We observed 168 plant species in the SNPBZ with a range of 3–17 species per sample plot, where about 67% of plants were found to be palatable for livestock. Our study shows that total available fodder biomass on rangeland in the SNPBZ has not been fully utilized yet, because the total available supply exceeds the present demand under some assumptions: reduction of biomass through grazing causes higher productivity, resulting in a higher number of species, according to the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. The results of this study could help improve decision-making related to sustainable rangeland management.
关键词：Land use change; floristic composition; species richness; carrying capacity; rangeland ecosystem; Nepal