Plateau pika control degrades grasslands while grazing exclusion provides no habitat improvement

Plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) control and fencing are primary strategies to combat grassland degradation on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. We analyzed 14 years of monitoring data from 1,460 plots across 22 ecoregions to evaluate these interventions. Structural equation modeling revealed that pika suppression exerted a weak indirect negative effect on grassland stability. Neither prolonged pika control nor fencing induced significant overall improvements. While certain grazing regimes initially increased plant richness of both palatable and non-palatable grasses (+18.7%) and non-palatable biomass (+27.4%), these gains diminished after 8-10 years, returning to baseline levels. These findings demonstrate that indiscriminate plateau pika control compromises habitat quality without lasting benefits, and large-scale fencing fails to significantly improve grassland richness or stability. Our results suggest that current reliance on singular interventions is suboptimal, highlighting the need for more integrated and ecologically adaptive management approaches.