Various types of restoration approaches are currently adopted to restore the degraded grasslands of the QinghaiTibetan Plateau, including fencing off grasslands, establishing artificial grasslands, adding nutrients and no-tillage sowing. Although they have played an important role in the process of alpine grassland restoration, a systematic analysis of the key factors and techniques (i.e., physical, chemical and biological factors related to plant and soil) that constrain the restoration of degraded alpine grasslands is still lacking. Here, we review the key factors constraining restoration of degraded alpine grasslands, including seed provenance, soil microorganisms, soil nutrients and local culture. Furthermore, we propose a heuristic framework to combine a suit of approaches to deal with these key factors in the alpine grassland restoration practices. Specifically, the heuristic framework will 1) develop techniques for seed collection and multiplication of native grasses, seed coating, optimal combination of a range of native species, and no-tillage sowing; 2) screen compound microbial species suitable for degraded grassland restoration and develop microbial agents to reduce the constraints of soil microorganism; 3) develop vegetation restoration techniques tailored to soil nutrient regulation in order to deal with the constraint on soil; 4) develop adaptive management based on application of new techniques tailored to Tibetan herders. Therefore, we propose "close-to-ature" recovery restoration, a novel restoration measure that rests on of native grass species, soil microorganisms and regulation of nutrient, as a potential approach to effectively and efficiently restore the degraded grasslands on Tibetan Plateau.

seed provenance  /  soil microorganisms  /  soil nutrients  /  adaptive management  /  alpine grassland