Aerial Seeding Promotes the Restoration of Ecosystem Health in Mu Us Sandy Grasslands in China

Abstract

Grassland ecosystem health is related to global ecological problems, and large areas of grassland are threatened by degradation. Various measures, such as aerial seeding, have been applied to restore degraded grassland ecosystems. However, the effects of these measures remain unclear. In this study, based on the CVOR (condition, vitality, organization, and resilience) model, the entropy method was used to calculate the ecosystem health of aerial seeding restoration sites in the Mu Us sandy grassland, China. Then, the relationship between CVOR value, various indices in the model, and restoration time was measured using correlation analysis. The results show that (1) the vitality criterion layer has the highest weight in the CVOR model; (2) the cautionary hierarchy is the most (40.0%), and the healthy hierarchy is the opposite (10.0%) among all the restoration sites; and (3) 30-year aerial seeding can promote ecosystem health in sandy grasslands. This study demonstrates that aerial seeding is an effective method for restoring degraded grassland ecosystems and can guide future restoration measures and policies for degraded ecosystems.