Abstract

The study of the state and economic value of pasture ecosystems in Mongolia in the context of their progressive degradation continues to be very relevant. The existing methods of forage assessment of pastures are either laborious (the zootechnical method) or do not reflect the real situation (assessment of overall productivity) in the formation of low-species or monodominant degraded communities. To determine the nutritional value and productivity of pasture ecosystems in Mongolia, the palatability coefficient (PC) is proposed, which is determined on the basis of data on the nutritional usefulness of plant species that make up the community, as well as the diversity of eaten species. The PC was calculated as the ratio of the phytomass eaten to the total aboveground phytomass, multiplied by the number of eaten species included in the composition of dominants and codominants. The PC was determined for 158 communities of meadow and steppe pasture ecosystems. These were ranked in four categories. It has been established that a significant part of the studied communities have a high PC. Although these communities are characterized by varying degrees of anthropogenic disturbance, including severe ones, the high PC is due to the fact that some of the digressively active species have satisfactory or good palatability. This fact probably supports the potential for an increase in the number of livestock in Mongolia, which have a wide range of food preferences. At the same time, there is a high proportion of pastures with low and very low PCs. To a greater extent, such pastures are formed by communities of real and dry steppes, which experience the greatest pasture load in Mongolia.

中文翻译：

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植物群落的适口性作为蒙古牧场定性评估的标准之一

摘要

研究蒙古牧场生态系统在其逐渐退化的背景下的状况和经济价值仍然非常重要。现有的牧场草​​料评估方法要么费力（动物技术方法），要么不能反映低物种或单一优势退化群落形成的真实情况（总体生产力评估）。为确定蒙古牧场生态系统的营养价值和生产力，提出了适口系数 (PC)，该系数是根据构成群落的植物物种的营养有用性数据以及食用植物多样性的数据确定的物种。PC 计算为食用的植物量与地上总植物量的比率，乘以包含在显性和共显性组成中的被食用物种的数量。PC 是为 158 个草甸和草原牧场生态系统群落确定的。这些被分为四类。已经确定，所研究社区的很大一部分具有较高的 PC。虽然这些群落的特点是受到不同程度的人为干扰，包括严重的人为干扰，但高 PC 是由于一些离题活跃的物种具有令人满意或良好的适口性。这一事实可能支持蒙古牲畜数量增加的潜力，这些牲畜有广泛的食物偏好。同时，PC 值低和非常低的牧场比例很高。在更大程度上，这些牧场是由真正干燥的草原群落形成的，