Effect of Revegetation in Extremely Degraded Grassland on Carbon Density in Alpine Permafrost Regions

Revegetation has been proposed as an effective approach to restoring the extremely degraded grassland in the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP). However, little is known about the effect of revegetation on ecosystem carbon density (ECD), especially in alpine permafrost regions. We compared aboveground biomass carbon density (ABCD), belowground biomass carbon density (BBCD), soil organic carbon density (SOCD), and ECD in intact alpine meadow, extremely degraded, and revegetated grasslands, as well as their influencing factors. Our results indicated that (1) ABCD, BBCD, SOCD, and ECD were significantly lower in extremely degraded grassland than in intact alpine meadow; (2) ABCD, SOCD, and ECD in revegetated grassland significantly increased by 93.46%, 16.88%, and 19.22%, respectively; (3) stepwise regression indicated that BBCD was mainly influenced by soil special gravity, and SOCD and ECD were controlled by freeze–thaw strength and soil temperature, respectively. This study provides a comprehensive survey of ECD and basic data for assessing ecosystem service functions in revegetated grassland of the alpine permafrost regions in the QTP