Abstract: The co-existence of micro-patches in plant community is one of the basic characteristics of grazing pasture, which affects ecosystem structure and functioning. In this study, we investigated characteristics of plant communities, primary productivity, soil physical and chemical properties, plant nutrient content, and their correlations in different patches selected from plant communities under different grazing intensities. The results showed that with the increase of grazing intensity, species composition of plant community patches tended to be simplified, the species sensitive to grazing disappeared, and species richness decreased. High grazing intensity significantly decreased aboveground biomass of plant community. In addition, there was a significant relationship between aboveground biomass and total nitrogen concentration. The concentrations of soil total carbon, total nitrogen and total phosphorus showed increasing trends with the increase of grazing intensity. Influenced by the grazing intensity and patch structure, the spatial distribution of soil total carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus are heterogeneous. There were no significant correlations between plant and soil nutrient concentrations. The results suggested that community structure and ecosystem function would be changed by livestock grazing, with asynchronous dynamics between plant and soil nutrients.

Key words: phosphate-solubilization, Talaromyces aurantiacus, growth-promoting effect., Phyllostachys edulis