Effect of reseeding on productivity and plant diversity on alpine meadows

The effects of reseeding on community productivity,the structure of functional groups and on plant diversity have been carried out since May 2010 in a reseeding experiment on Maqu degraded alpine meadow in the east of the Tibetan Plateau.After reseeding,the productivity,species richness and the richness index of Margalef significantly increased.Comparing the treatment without reseeding to that with reseeding,the productivity increased 31%-44%.The productivity of gramineae and sedge increased along with an increased quantity of reseeding,especially with sedges in which productivity was 2.7 times that in the treatment without reseeding.The proportion of forbs in the community was greatly reduced in response to the reseeding.In conclusion,proper reseeding could raise the utility value of alpine meadows but in the meantime it is better to recover degraded grassland and maintain the stability of the ecosystem.