Typical grassland is the core of the Mongolian Plateau grassland belt, and is also an important ecological barrier in the north of China. It is of great significance to explore the real-time changes in grassland climate for the prevention and control of climate disasters, and for ecological protection. In this study, the spatial and temporal variation of temperature, precipitation and maximum wind speed in typical Mongolian Plateau grassland were studied using observation data from 16 meteorological stations from 1978 to 2020, using the linear trend method, cumulative anomaly method, Mann-Kendall test, sliding t-test and Morlet wavelet analysis. The results show that: (1) The typical grassland temperature has been increasing at a rate of 0.4 °C/10a (p < 0.001) over the past 40 years, with the most significant warming in spring and summer; a sudden change from low to high temperature occurred in 1992; the annual average temperature gradually increased from northeast to southwest, with significant warming in the southwest. (2) Annual precipitation decreased slightly at a rate of −2.39 mm/10a, with the most significant decrease in summer precipitation; a sudden change from more to less precipitation occurred in 1998; spatially, precipitation decreased gradually from east to west, with significant moisture reduction in its northern part. (3) The maximum wind speed decreased significantly at a rate of −0.33m/s/10a (p < 0.001), with the most pronounced decrease in spring; the maximum wind speed changed abruptly from strong to weak around 1991; spatially, the annual average maximum wind speed decreased gradually from northwest to southeast and northeast, with the most pronounced decrease in the south and northeast. (4) The wavelet analysis shows that the typical grassland area will still be in a warm, low-rainfall and weak-wind stage in the coming years. Using the above analysis, the typical grassland climate of the Mongolian Plateau has shown a clear trend of warm and dry, weak wind in the past 40 years.

Inner Mongolia is one of the main animal husbandry production bases in China, with herders being the main animal husbandry producers. A systematic analysis of the efficiency of herding households’ livelihoods and the influencing factors is of great importance to formulate effective policies to support herding households’ livelihoods, enhance their social adaptability, and alleviate the vulnerability of poor people in herding areas. This study used a typical steppe of Inner Mongolia as the research area. It used the interview data of herding households from 2021, constructed the evaluation index system of herding households’ livelihood efficiency, analyzed the redundancy of the inputs and outputs of herding households’ livelihoods, and examined the key factors affecting herding households’ livelihood efficiency. The results indicate that (1) the pure technical effectiveness of the livelihood efficiency of typical grassland herding households in Inner Mongolia is the highest; the comprehensive technical efficiency and scale efficiency are low. The scale return of most herders’ livelihoods shows a decreasing state. (2) According to the results of the model, under the premise of the output not being reduced, reducing the amount of social capital input can effectively save resources. Without increasing the input, the room for improvement in the living level is the most obvious. (3) The pasture area, the communication network, and the access to information have significant negative effects on the efficiency of herders’ livelihoods; infrastructure and water supply have significant positive impacts. In summary, we built a model for evaluating the livelihood efficiency of herders in typical grassland areas of Inner Mongolia, which can provide a reference for the revitalization work of pastoral areas and related research in the future.

Amid global climate change and extreme weather conditions, sudden dzud events in arid grassland regions inflict severe disasters on herders, livestock, transportation, and the economy. In particular, Mongolia experiences frequent dzud events in recent years, bringing devastating consequences. However, studies on the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of snow cover during dzud events in Mongolia remain relatively scarce and fail to adequately explain the anomalous features and impacts of extreme snowfall. Therefore, this study examined the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of snow in the five most severe dzud events in Mongolia from 2000 to 2024. We utilized the Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) extraction method based on 500 m resolution MODIS10A1 data, with the results validated against 10 m resolution Sentinel-2 imagery. The study produces several interesting results: (1) Snow cover in Mongolia generally increases from south to north with rising terrain elevation. Although its interannual variation is highly unstable, a slight decreasing trend is observed over the past 25 years. (2) Significant regional differences form a fan-shaped snow distribution pattern centered around 45–52° N, with trend analysis indicating intensification in the west and weakening in the east, except for extreme weather events. (3) During dzud events, the snow cover fraction (SCF) generally exceeds the multi-year average, exhibiting a pronounced and abrupt rise, while snow cover and livestock mortality fluctuate in synchrony. By revealing the spatiotemporal distribution patterns of snow during dzud years in Mongolia, this research provides an evidence-based reference for the understanding of extreme winter climatic events and disaster risk reduction in arid grassland regions.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a key indicator of soil quality and carbon storage in grassland ecosystems, yet its spatial variation under contrasting grazing regimes remains insufficiently understood. Focusing on the typical steppe along the Ujimqin-Wenduerhan transect across the China-Mongolia border, this study compared SOC distribution and its major associated factors under sedentary grazing (SG) and four-season nomadic grazing (FSNG). Field surveys, laboratory analyses, principal component analysis (PCA), and partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) were used to assess the relationships among grazing regime, vegetation characteristics, soil properties, and SOC. SOC decreased with soil depth under both grazing regimes, while its spatial pattern differed between FSNG and SG. Compared with SG, FSNG was characterized by higher soil total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) and lower bulk density (BD) and soil water content (SWC). PCA indicated that FSNG was more closely related to nutrient and vegetation factors, whereas SG was more strongly linked to soil physical conditions. PLS-PM further showed that soil TN was the strongest direct factor associated with SOC under both grazing regimes. Under FSNG, aboveground biomass (AGB) and pH were positively associated with SOC via soil TN, suggesting a closer link between SOC variation, vegetation inputs, and nutrient availability; under SG, BD was negatively associated with SOC via soil TN, indicating a closer association with soil physical constraints and nitrogen availability. These findings indicate that contrasting grazing regimes are associated with distinct SOC spatial patterns and differences in the relative importance of vegetation, nutrient, and soil physical factors. These findings improve our understanding of SOC variation under contrasting grazing regimes and provide a scientific basis for sustainable grazing management and soil carbon conservation in dryland grasslands.