what has been the major changes in the luxuriant grasslands of the world over the centuries
Answers
The Tibetan Steppe is one of the earth’s important grazing ecosystems, encompassing about 1.65 million km2 (Figure 8.1). The Tibetan Steppe ecosystem actually extends into north western Bhutan, northern Nepal and northwestern India, but this paper deals only with the land within the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. Grazing lands vary from cold deserts to semi -arid steppe and shrublands, to alpine steppe and moist alpine meadows. It contains the highest grasslands in the world, much is above 4 000 m; some herders maintain permanent camps at elevations as high as 5 100 m, among the highest inhabited places in the world. With a severe continental climate, it is one of the world’s harshest grazing environments, yet these pastures supply forage for an estimated 12 million yak and 30 million sheep and goats (Plate 8.1), and provide livelihoods for about 5 million pastoralists and agropastoralists.