Quantifying the Spatial Extent of Roads and Their Effects on the Vegetation in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert
, Ariuntsetseg Lkhagva 2,*, Bolorchuluun Chogsom 3, Batbileg Bayaraa 4, Byambasuren Damdin 4, Bolormaa Tsooj 5, Javkhlan Nyamjav 6, Batkhishig Baival 7 and Chantsallkham Jamsranjav 8
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Authors,
‘Mega-infrastructure intervention from Central to Southeast Asia’
Thanks for the insightful paper.
Attached are a few comments.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
We really appreciate your positive response to our manuscript and agree all your comments. We read papers by the authors, Fernandez-Gimenez, Sternberg, and Jackson. Thank you again! The detailed response is attached.
Sincerely,
Ariuntsetseg Lkhagva
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The ms is well written and I liked the idea of plants differences along the road. But, the analysis is very simple, and needs more data to strengthen the article.
1-vehicle permit only is not sufficient; at least measuring # of vehicles in the road suggested
2-quite simple plant lists (table 2) and would like to know if the results are only due to the road. Other factors also need to be mentioned (e.g., precipitation, soil moisture, sunlight, etc). Only mentioned in the discussion (no data??)
3- how to measure biomass (by weight??) not mentioned in the discussion.
4-Interesting to connect with herbivore use of plants along the road
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
We really appreciate your positive responses to our manuscript and agree all your comments. Thank you very much for your time improving our manuscript quality! The detailed response is attached.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
In my opinion this work fits well within scope of the journal. The research can make an original contribution in this area. Some areas should be improved before publication. Please see the specific points as following:
1.What is the innovation of this article? I cannot find it in the current version.
2.Legend within the Figure are much to small and cannot be read.
3.Why did you divided into three subplots 100 m, 300 m,and 900 m from the road?
4.Why selected the full factorial two-factor analyses of variances to test the impact of road on vegetation? Should add references.
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
We really appreciate your positive response to our manuscript and agree all your comments. Thank you very much for your time and comments improving our manuscript quality! The detailed response to your comments is attached. Please find the file!
Sincerely,
Ariuntsetseg Lkhagva
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
No more comments on the ms. It is well written.
