Abstract There is widespread concern that the condition of rangelands in the Gobi Desert is declining. Opinions differ about how to translate these concerns into a defensible assessment of condition. Finding common ground is essential because condition measurements influence land-use decisions on large scales. We created ‘condition metrics’ for three Gobi Desert ecosystems. We do not use the word ‘condition’ to mean simply ‘the measurable conditions’ (attributes, observable state) of a site. Rather, we use it to describe the evaluated or judged ‘condition’ (health, desirability, goodness). The metrics explicitly represent the consensus view of a large (n = 92) and diverse stakeholder group, including nomadic pastoralists, botanists, wildlife ecologists and policymakers. The metrics were created by training models (regression trees) to predict stakeholder evaluation scores from site variables. These models can be used as metrics to produce a score for any site, on a scale of 0–100. We demonstrate using field tests that the metrics are practical to implement, sensitive to changes caused by management intervention, and produce scores which approximate the consensus view among stakeholders. There is a high level of redundancy among site variables, suggesting the metrics could be simplified for remote-sensing applications, where only some attributes are detectable. We conclude that the metrics are useful for evaluating rangeland condition in the Gobi Desert, and that the metrics represent the consensus opinion of a range of stakeholders. Our methods are applicable to ecosystem evaluation worldwide.

中文翻译：

---

戈壁沙漠牧场状况评估：一种将利益相关者评估置于首位和中心的定量方法

摘要 戈壁沙漠的牧场状况正在恶化，这是人们普遍关注的问题。关于如何将这些担忧转化为对病情的合理评估，意见不一。找到共同点至关重要，因为条件测量会影响大规模的土地利用决策。我们为三个戈壁沙漠生态系统创建了“条件指标”。我们不使用“条件”一词来简单地表示站点的“可测量条件”（属性、可观察状态）。相反，我们用它来描述评估或判断的“状况”（健康、合意、善良）。这些指标明确代表了一个大型（n = 92）和多样化的利益相关者群体的共识观点，包括游牧民、植物学家、野生动物生态学家和政策制定者。这些指标是由训练模型（回归树）创建的，用于从站点变量预测利益相关者的评估分数。这些模型可以用作衡量任何站点的分数，范围为 0-100。我们使用现场测试证明这些指标是实用的，对管理干预引起的变化敏感，并产生接近利益相关者共识观点的分数。站点变量之间存在高度冗余，这表明可以针对仅可检测到某些属性的遥感应用程序简化度量标准。我们得出结论，这些指标对于评估戈壁沙漠的牧场状况很有用，并且这些指标代表了一系列利益相关者的共识意见。我们的方法适用于全球生态系统评估。