Low-temperature stress is a critical factor regulating plant growth in alpine meadows on the Tibetan Plateau. This study selected common forage species from four functional groups in alpine meadows in North Tibet， measured their cold-tolerance-related physiological indicators， and explored the impact pathways of livestock grazing exclusion， climatic conditions， soil nutrients， and plant community structural regimes. The results showed that （1） cold tolerance-related physiological indicators were significantly different among species and plant functional groups （P<0.05） without significant differences between inside and outside of the fences for grazing exclusion； （2） at the community level， malondialdehyde （MDA）， peroxidase （POD）， and catalase （CAT） activities were positively correlated with growing season precipitation （GSP）； superoxide dismutase （SOD） activity was positively correlated with growing season temperature （GST）； soluble sugar （SS） and SOD were negatively correlated with soil total nitrogen （STN）； SS and soluble protein （SP） were negatively correlated with soil total phosphorus （STP）； proline （Pro）， SS， and CAT were negatively correlated with species richness and the Shannon-Wiener index； Pro was negatively correlated with the Simpson's diversity index； and aboveground biomass （AGB） was negatively correlated with MDA and CAT （P<0.05）； （3） the structural equation modeling （SEM） revealed that AGB was directly affected by temperature and antioxidant enzyme activity， with path coefficients of 0.39 and -0.41， respectively. Soil nutrients and community structure indirectly affected antioxidant enzyme activity through osmoregulatory substances， with effect sizes of -0.13 and -0.18， respectively. Precipitation affected AGB indirectly through antioxidant enzyme activity， with an effect size of -0.30. It is recommended to elucidate the mechanisms underlying interactions between cold tolerance-related physiological indices and environmental variables on plant survival in alpine meadows in further studies.

Alpine meadow  /  Community-weighted mean  /  Livestock grazing management  /  Plant functional groups  /  Soil nutrients