This study investigated the effects of plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) disturbances and altitude on soil organic carbon (SOC) storage characteristics, including SOC content and SOC density (SOCD). In this study, plateau pika outbreak areas and non-outbreak areas at different altitudes were compared in terms of vegetation biomass, soil physicochemical properties, SOC content and SOCD to establish the relationship between vegetation and soil characteristics (including SOC content and SOCD). The results showed that SOC and SOCD decreased significantly (p < 0.01) in plateau pika outbreak areas, but SOCD increased first and then decreased with elevation in non-outbreak areas. Soil total nitrogen (TN) content decreased significantly (p < 0.01) with elevation in both plateau pika outbreak and non-outbreak areas. There were significant differences (p < 0.05) in total phosphorus (TP) at low elevations and nitrate nitrogen (NO₃⁻-N) at high elevations between outbreak and non-outbreak areas, but other nutrients did not differ hugely between outbreak and non-outbreak areas at the same elevation. Correlation analysis revealed that belowground biomass (BGB) in the plateau pika outbreak area was significantly and positively correlated with SOC (p < 0.01); structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis revealed that altitude had a direct effect on SOC (path coefficient = −0.882, p < 0.001) in the plateau pika outbreak area, but only a reduced influence on SOC and SOCD in the non-outbreak area; nitrate nitrogen in the plateau pika outbreak area and TN were the key influencing factors, which exerted a strong direct influence on SOC and SOCD (path coefficient = −0.666 and 0.639 (p < 0.001), respectively). Therefore, increasing vegetation biomass and nitrogen nutrient content through reseeding pasture and fertilization can facilitate the accumulation and recovery of SOC and SOCD in the ecological restoration of degraded alpine meadows, and it is especially important to quickly enrich soil nitrogen content in the outbreak area of plateau pika populations at high altitudes.

The swampy meadows atop the vast Qinghai–Tibet Plateau in West China fall into alpine, pediment, valley, floodplain, terrace, lacustrine, and riverine types according to their hydro-geomorphic properties. They have suffered degradation to various levels of severity due to climate change and external disturbance. In this paper, we studied the propensity of these types of swampy meadows to degrade from the topographic perspective. Evaluated against four degradation indicators of vegetation, hydrology, soil erosion, and pika (Ochotona curzoniae) damage, degradation severity at 106 swampy meadows representing all types of wetlands was graded to one of four levels, from which the field-based propensity to degrade (PtD) index value was derived. Judged against this index, terrace and alpine swampy meadows are the most prone to degradation while valley, lacustrine, and riverine swampy meadows are the least. The index value of a given swampy meadow type bears a close relationship (R² = 0.916) with its rate of change during 1990–2013, which confirms the validity of the proposed index in predicting the propensity of swampy meadows to change. The observed differential PtD of different types of swampy meadows is attributed primarily to elevation (R² = 0.746; p = 0.027) and, secondarily, to surface morphology (R² = 0.696; p = 0.039). Thus, the elevation at which a swampy meadow is situated is a more important factor to its PtD than its surface morphology. In particular, swampy meadows located at a higher elevation with a convex surface are much more prone to degradation than those at a lower elevation of a concave slope. Such findings can guide the proper management of different types of swampy meadows to achieve sustainable animal husbandry.

In the original publication [1], there were mistakes in affiliations, Tables 2 and 3 as published