Grazing modulates soil temperature and moisture in a Eurasian steppe

Few studies have addressed the potential grazing effects on microclimate, such as surface temperature and moisture, and their feedback effects on grassland function. A continuous, approximately three-year long study was conducted in experimental plots of various grazing intensities, and in situ soil temperature and moisture were measured. The results indicated that grazing significantly altered soil temperature and moisture. Soil temperature increased exponentially with increasing grazing intensity in the warm season due to the removal of aboveground biomass (AGB) and decreased linearly with increasing grazing intensity in the cold season due to decreases in both AGB and wind-blown snow accumulation. Heavy grazing increased soil temperature (10 cm depth) by an average of 2.6 °C from April to October (the largest hourly temperature increase was 8.8 °C), representing a soil warming effect 3.7 times that of global warming. Our findings showed that, compared with ungrazed plots, grazed plots had decreased soil water storage due to less winter snow accumulation, especially in the early growing season (EGS) because of the smaller amount of winter snow accumulation than in ungrazed plots. In the EGS, the average water storage in the 0-100 cm layer of the ungrazed plots was 23.3%, which was 1.3-1.8 times that of the grazed plots. Our results showed that grazing also produced warming and drying effects on grassland soil. The long-term feedback effects of grazing-induced soil warming and drying on the ecosystem might be an important mechanism accelerating the degradation and desertification of these grasslands.