Cyclic formation of zokor mounds promotes plant diversity and renews plant communities in alpine meadows on the Tibetan Plateau

Aims Disturbance regimes are changing rapidly, along with the generation of patchy habitats, and the consequences of such changes for ecosystems will be profound. Plateau zokor mounds are a common natural disturbance on the Tibetan Plateau, and this disturbance leads to bare patches, and catalyse new paradigms of plant community dynamics in alpine ecosystems.