Short‐term grazing exclusion does not effectively restore degraded rangeland in the Junggar desert of Xinjiang, China.

Exclosure is a simple and effective rangeland restoration approach, which is widely used in China, and is conducive to the recovery of degraded vegetation and soil. Plant and soil properties in a desert steppe on the southeastern edge of the Junggar basin after 6 and 16 years of grazing exclusion were measured and compared with open grazing lands. The results showed that vegetation cover increased with exclosure time, while the abundance decreased over time; the species richness, diversity, and evenness indexes of the annual plants decreased after 6 years of grazing exclusion and recovered after 16 years of grazing exclusion. The soil was significantly restored during the 16‐year exclosure period because soil fertility increased and soil pH decreased; however, the soil was not effectively restored after 6 years of exclosure because the soil pH had increased and soil organic matter and total nitrogen had decreased, even though available nutrients and total phosphorus had significantly increased. Therefore, these results were contrary to previous studies, which reported that rangeland can be restored by a short‐term exclusion system in this region, and that grazing exclosures should be established and widely used in degraded rangelands to restore the vegetation and soil. Long‐term exclosure to improve soil and vegetation conditions is crucial if the restoration and sustainable use of the rangeland in the Junggar desert are to be promoted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]