To clarify how dung patches from grazing yaks affect soil and pasture in the alpine meadow of Qinghai-
Tibetan Plateau, yak dung was collected, mixed and redistributed in a cold grazing season. The soil physical
and chemical properties and forage growth were then monitored under the yak dung patch, and
10 cm and 50 cm from the edge of yak dung patches. The result has shown that yak dung significantly
improved soil moisture, total organic matter, and soil available N and P under or close to the dung
patches. The forage production at 10 cm from the dung patch (303 g/m2) was significantly higher than
that at 50 cm from the dung patch (control) (284 g/m2) in the second year, while the production was similar
to the control in the first and the third year. The process of yak dung decomposition was slow and yak
dung remains were observed 3 years after the drop. The dung patches also formed a strong ‘shell’, very
difficult for plant underneath to penetrate and grow. Therefore, almost all plants under yak dung patches
died, leading to decline in forage yield in the first, second, and the third year. In practice in the Qinghai-
Tibetan Plateau regions, yak dung is often collected as fuel by the local farmers. Removing yak dung from
alpine meadow may on one hand lead to losses in soil nutrients, but on the other hand reduces some of
the negative effects, e.g. the reduction of forage yield under yak dung patches