Pastoralism in the highest peaks: Role of the traditional grazing systems in maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem function in the alpine Himalaya

Author Contributions Conceptualization: Tenzing Ingty. Data curation: Tenzing Ingty. Formal analysis: Tenzing Ingty. Funding acquisition: Tenzing Ingty. Investigation: Tenzing Ingty. Methodology: Tenzing Ingty. Project administration: Tenzing Ingty. Resources: Tenzing Ingty. Validation: Tenzing Ingty. Visualization: Tenzing Ingty. Writing – original draft: Tenzing Ingty. Writing – review & editing: Tenzing Ingty. References 1. Williams RE, Allred BW, DeNio RM, Paulsen HA Jr. Conservation, Development, and Use of the World’s Rangelands. J Range Manag. 1968; 21: 355–360. 2. Zhang R, Wang Z, Han G, Schellenberg MP, Wu Q, Gu C. Grazing induced changes in plant diversity is a critical factor controlling grassland productivity in the Desert Steppe, Northern China. Agric Eco- syst Environ. 2018; 265: 73–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.AGEE.2018.05.014 3. Havstad KM, Peters DC, Allen-Diaz B, Bartolome J, Bestelmeyer BT, Briske D, et al. The western United States rangelands, a major resource. In: Wedin WF, Fales SL, editors. Grassland Quietness and Strength for a New American Agriculture. Madison, WI: American Society of Agronomy Inc., Crop Science Society of America Inc., and Soil Science Society of America Inc; 2009. pp. 75–93. 4. Neely C, Bunning S, Wilkes A. Review of evidence on drylands pastoral systems and climate change. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; 2009. 5. Costanza R, d’Arge R, de Groot R, Farber S, Grasso M, Hannon B, et al. The value of the world’s eco-

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able Development: A Missing Piece of the Global Puzzle. In: Lucatello S, Huber-Sannwald E, Espejel I, Martı´nez-Tagu¨ eña N, editors. Stewardship of Future Drylands and Climate Change in the Global South. Springer, Cham; 2020. pp. 41–55. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22464-6_3 PLOS ONE Role of the traditional grazing systems in maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem function in alpine Himalaya PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245221 January 7, 2021 14 / 19