Optimized grazing management enhances multiple ecosystem services by maintaining plant diversity and dominance in grasslands

The main goal of ecosystem management is to optimize the simultaneous delivery of multiple ecosystem services. However, it is always challenging to develop management practices which balance the trade-offs between production and environmental benefits. Here, we investigated whether and how an innovative grazing practice, which incorporates periods of planned rest and sustainable stocking density, can simultaneously improve multiple ecosystem services. We found that grazing with rest in the peak growing season, along with setting sustainable stocking rates, which considered climate fluctuation, increased ecosystem multifunctionality under a wide range of perspectives (e.g., local herders, conservationists, and decision-makers), in terms of improving cultural and provisioning services compared to grazing exclusion (government intervention), and regulating and supporting services compared to continuous grazing (conventional practice). In particular, the innovative grazing practice mitigated the trade-offs among the four ecosystem services. The improvements could be attributed to an increase in plant diversity and community dominance (especially dominant palatable forages), because plant diversity played critical roles in delivering cultural and provisioning services, and the dominance was fundamental to regulating and supporting services. Our study suggests that developing innovative management practices could enhance the provision of ecosystem services and mitigate their trade-offs and conflicts between different stakeholder groups.