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Page 10 of 17 Zhang et al. Carbon Footprints 2025, 4, 36 https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/cf.2025.29
Figure 3. Relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and enteric fermentation and dung DM.
Figure 4. Relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and Farming inputs.
cycling and sequestration were relatively low. When the grazing rate increases to 8 yak/ha, the carbon input
and carbon use efficiency rise to 12.7%. The carbon sequestration amount declines slightly to 21.5 t/ha/a,
while the carbon sequestration efficiency significantly increases to 2.4%. This indicates that at this grazing
rate, the carbon cycling and sequestration capacity of the pastoral ecosystem are optimized to some degree.
At a grazing rate of 16 yak/ha, the carbon input and carbon use efficiency continue to decline to 12.4%. The
carbon sequestration amount further decreases to 21.1 t/ha/a, and simultaneously, the carbon sequestration
efficiency also drops to 2.3%. As grazing rate increases, carbon input and carbon sequestration efficiency
exhibit an initial increase followed by a decrease. At an appropriate grazing rate (such as 8 yak/ha), the
carbon cycling and sequestration capacity of the pastoral ecosystem can be optimized. However, excessively
high grazing rates (such as 16 yak/ha) put pressure on the pastoral ecosystem, leading to decreases in carbon
input and carbon sequestration efficiency [Figure 4].

