Abstract:Plateau zokor is the dominant subterranean rodent in Qinghai-Tibet plateau and it burrows soil of the ground surface to form new mounds,which is a kind of bare land that easily causes soil erosion. It is of great significance to study soil erosion of new mounds caused by plateau zokor to evaluate the impact of the zokor on alpine meadow ecosystem. This study used the runoff plot method and the wind erosion bridge method to determine the annual soil erosion and organic matter loss on the new mounds, and compared the soil particle composition, soil moisture and soil nutrients contents between the new mounds and the surface soil (0-10 cm) on the grassland without mounds. The purpose was to clarify the soil erosion of the new mounds on different topography, including plain and slope, as well as different size new mounds, involving large (diameter>75 cm), moderate (diameter 50~75 cm) and small (diameter<50 cm). The results showed that:(1) In plain and slope area, the annual soil loss of plateau zokor mounds was 4 039.91 and 3 731.79 g/m2 respectively, and the annual soil organic matter loss was 266.83 and 252.76 mg/m2 respectively. The soil erosion level of plateau zokor mound was moderate; (2) Both the contents of soil aggregates with size of<0.25 mm and>5 mm in mounds surface were significantly less than that of grassland without mounds (P<0.05), and the soil aggregates contents of>0.25 mm in mounds surface was significantly greater than that of grassland without mounds(P<0.05); (3) The soil fertility and soil moisture of mounds' surface soil were significantly less than that of grassland without mounds (P<0.05); (4) The amount of sediment loss of new mounds on the slope was significantly higher than that of the plain in the rain season (P<0.05). The wind erosion of zokors' mounds on the plain was greater than that on the slope in the wind season, the thickness of wind erosion on the plain and slope was 4.33 and 3.62 cm, respectively; (5) The thickness of wind erosion of different size mounds in the wind season was highest on the large mounds, followed by small mounds and moderate mounds. The thickness of wind erosion of large, moderate and small size mounds were 5.50, 3.59 and 2.82 cm, respectively. In conclusion, the new mounds of plateau zokor could cause wind and water erosion, which level depends on the different topography and mounds size, in alpine meadows.