Land degradation has been rapidly taking place in source region of the Yellow River in China. This study was conducted during 2008 in Maduo County to investigate soil and plant changes in relation to land degradation. Several results were derived from this work. First, the soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) decreased significantly on the extremely degraded land comparing with the natural grassland. Second, soil bulk density increased as land degradation worsened. Soil bulk density of the extremely degraded land was significantly greater than that of the grassland. Third, pH showed no obvious variation pattern. Finally, aboveground biomass decreased from grassland to the moderately degraded land. But aboveground biomass increased on the extremely degraded land and very extremely degraded land with most aboveground biomass inedible for livestock.
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