Ecology and sustainability of the Inner Mongolian Grassland: Looking back and moving forward

• Published in: Landscape ecology 2020-11, Vol.35 (11), p.2413-2432
• Main Authors: Zhang, Qing, Buyantuev, Alexander, Fang, Xuening, Han, Peng, Li, Ang, Li, Frank Yonghong, Liang, Cunzhu, Liu, Qingfu, Ma, Qun, Niu, Jianming, Shang, Chenwei, Yan, Yongzhi, Zhang, Jing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bibliometrics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Climate change; Ecological function; Ecology; Ecosystem management; Ecosystem services; Environmental impact; Environmental Management; Grasslands; Land management; Landscape architecture; Landscape design; Landscape Ecology; Landscape/Regional and Urban Planning; Life Sciences; Literature reviews; Nature Conservation; Network analysis; Principal components analysis; Review Article; Statistical analysis; Statistical methods; Sustainability; Sustainability science; Sustainable Development
• ISSN: 0921-2973; 1572-9761
• DOI: 10.1007/s10980-020-01083-9

Context Understanding the ecology and sustainability of the Inner Mongolian Grassland is crucial for improving land management policies in the Mongolian Plateau and beyond. However, a systematic and comprehensive review of the relevant literature is still lacking. Objectives This review was intended to: (1) assess the current state of the ecological and sustainability research of the Inner Mongolian Grassland region, and (2) identify critical research topics and challenges for understanding pathways to sustainability of the region. Methods We conducted a bibliometric analysis of 2571 English articles indexed in the Web of Science during 1998–2019. Multiple methods, including descriptive statistics, principal component analysis, change point detection, theme mining, and association strength analysis, were combined to analyze the sampled literature. Results All reviewed studies can be grouped into four types: description of ecological and biogeochemical characteristics of degraded grasslands (type I), the impacts of climate change and human activities on aboveground (type II) and belowground grassland ecosystem functioning (type III), and the impacts of different management strategies on grassland ecosystem services and human well-being (type IV). The number of publications in all four themes has rapidly increased after 2007–2009. The four types of articles were related to each other in terms of the interannual publication consistency. Keyword co-occurrence network analysis showed that climate change and grazing were the major research topics, which are closely related to all other topics. Conclusions Three perspectives have persisted in the ecology and sustainability research of the Inner Mongolian Grassland: Ecology in the Grassland, Ecology of the Grassland, and Sustainability of the Grassland. Based on the emerging landscape sustainability science framework, the transdisciplinary approach to landscape sustainability diagnostics and landscape planning and design should become a priority in advancing sustainability research of the region.