Evaluation of ecological services value of alpine rangeland ecosystem in the northern Tibet region
藏北高寒草地生态系统服务价值评估

Alpine rangeland in the Northern Tibetan region of China is not only a valuable base for livestock production, but also plays an important role in the ecological safety shelter zone for China. However, the alpine rangeland degradation makes weakened ecological service function and descended service value, threatening not only the local ecological safety and life of the local residents, but also further ecological security of the down-streams of the rivers. By combining regional difference, spatial heterogeneity, and difference of economic development level at different areas, 12 indicators with high contributions to ecological services function were selected in this study to evaluate the ecological services value of alpine rangeland in the Naqu region of northern Tibet. The evaluation results indicated that the total annual ecological services value of alpine rangeland was 119.907 billion RMB in the Naqu region, in which ecological services value of alpine steppe, alpine desert, alpine desert steppe, alpine meadow accounted for 62.9%, 1.5%, 8%, and 28.1% of the total ecological services value, respectively. This study also showed that ecological services value of original vegetation, slight degradation, moderate degradation, and severe degradation made up of 54.9%, 29.3%, 11%, and 4.8% of the total ecological services value, respectively.