Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands

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Extent of temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands Biome map 08.svg
Extent of temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands

Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. [1] The predominant vegetation in this biome consists of grass and/or shrubs. The climate is temperate and ranges from semi-arid to semi-humid. The habitat type differs from tropical grasslands in the annual temperature regime as well as the types of species found here. [1]

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The habitat type is known as prairie in North America, pampas in South America, veld in Southern Africa and steppe in Asia. Generally speaking, these regions are devoid of trees, except for riparian or gallery forests associated with streams and rivers. [1]

Steppes/shortgrass prairies are short grasslands that occur in semi-arid climates. Tallgrass prairies are tall grasslands in areas of higher rainfall. Heaths and pastures are, respectively, low shrublands and grasslands where forest growth is hindered by human activity but not the climate.

Tall grasslands, including the tallgrass prairie of North America, the north-western parts of Eurasian steppe (Ukraine and south of Russia) and the Humid Pampas of Argentina, have moderate rainfall and rich soils which make them ideally suited to agriculture, and tall grassland ecoregions include some of the most productive grain-growing regions in the world. The expanses of grass in North America and Eurasia once sustained migrations of large vertebrates such as bison ( Bos bison ), saiga ( Saiga tatarica ), and Tibetan antelopes ( Pantholops hodgsoni ) and kiang ( Equus hemionus ). Such phenomena now occur only in isolated pockets, primarily in the Daurian Steppe and Tibetan Plateau. [1] [2]

Temperate savannahs, found in Southern South America, parts of West Asia, South Africa and southern Australia, are a mixed grassy woodland ecosystem defined by trees being reasonably widely spaced so that the canopy does not close, much like subtropical and tropical savannahs, albeit lacking a year-round warm climate. [3] In many savannas, tree densities are higher and are more regularly spaced than in forests. [4]

The floral communities of the Eurasian steppes and the North American Great Plains have been largely extirpated through conversion to agriculture. Nonetheless, as many as 300 different plant species may grow on less than three acres of North American tallgrass prairie, which also may support more than 3 million individual insects per acre. The Patagonian Steppe and Grasslands are notable for distinctiveness at the generic and familial level in a variety of taxa. [1]

Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregions

Al Hajar montane woodlands Oman, United Arab Emirates
Amsterdam and Saint-Paul Islands temperate grasslands Amsterdam Island, Saint-Paul Island
Tristan da Cunha–Gough Islands shrub and grasslands Tristan da Cunha, Gough Island
Canterbury–Otago tussock grasslands New Zealand
Cumberland Plain Woodland Australia
Lowland Native Grasslands of Tasmania Australia
New England Peppermint Grassy Woodland Australia
Southeast Australia temperate savanna Australia
Southwest Australia savanna Australia
Temperate Grassland of South Australia Australia
Victorian Volcanic Plain grasslands Australia
California Central Valley grasslands United States
Canadian aspen forests and parklands Canada, United States
Central and Southern mixed grasslands United States
Central forest–grasslands transition United States
Central tall grasslands United States
Columbia Plateau United States
Edwards Plateau savanna United States
Flint Hills tall grasslands United States
Montana valley and foothill grasslands United States
Nebraska Sand Hills mixed grasslands United States
Northern mixed grasslands Canada, United States
Northern short grasslands Canada, United States
Northern tall grasslands Canada, United States
Palouse grasslands United States
Texas blackland prairies United States
Western short grasslands United States
Argentine Espinal Argentina
Argentine Monte Argentina
Humid Pampas Argentina, Uruguay
Patagonian grasslands Argentina, Chile, United Kingdom (Falkland Islands)
Patagonian steppe Argentina, Chile, United Kingdom (Falkland Islands)
Semi-arid Pampas Argentina
Alai–Western Tian Shan steppe Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan
Altai steppe and semi-desert Kazakhstan
Central Anatolian steppe Turkey
Daurian forest steppe China, Mongolia, Russia
Eastern Anatolian montane steppe Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Turkey
Emin Valley steppe China, Kazakhstan
Faroe Islands boreal grasslands Faroe Islands, Denmark
Gissaro–Alai open woodlands Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan
Kazakh forest steppe Kazakhstan, Russia
Kazakh steppe Kazakhstan, Russia
Kazakh Uplands Kazakhstan
Mongolian–Manchurian grassland China, Mongolia, Russia
Pontic steppe Kazakhstan, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria
Sayan Intermontane steppe Russia
Selenge–Orkhon forest steppe Mongolia, Russia
South Siberian forest steppe Russia
Syrian xeric grasslands and shrublands Iraq, Jordan, Syria
Tian Shan foothill arid steppe China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biome</span> Community of organisms associated with an environment

A biome is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader term than habitat and can comprise a variety of habitats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steppe</span> Ecoregion of plain grasslands without trees

In physical geography, a steppe is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees except near rivers and lakes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prairie</span> Ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome

Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type. Temperate grassland regions include the Pampas of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, and the steppe of Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan. Lands typically referred to as "prairie" tend to be in North America. The term encompasses the area referred to as the Interior Lowlands of Canada, the United States, and Mexico, which includes all of the Great Plains as well as the wetter, hillier land to the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grassland</span> Area with vegetation dominated by grasses

A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica and are found in most ecoregions of the Earth. Furthermore, grasslands are one of the largest biomes on earth and dominate the landscape worldwide. There are different types of grasslands: natural grasslands, semi-natural grasslands, and agricultural grasslands. They cover 31–69% of the Earth's land area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Savanna</span> Mixed woodland-grassland ecosystem

A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of grasses. According to Britannica, there exists four savanna forms; savanna woodland where trees and shrubs form a light canopy, tree savanna with scattered trees and shrubs, shrub savanna with distributed shrubs, and grass savanna where trees and shrubs are mostly nonexistent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands</span> Terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature

Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The biome is dominated by grass and/or shrubs located in semi-arid to semi-humid climate regions of subtropical and tropical latitudes. Tropical grasslands are mainly found between 5 degrees and 15 degrees North and south of the Equator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rangeland</span> Biomes which can be grazed by animals or livestock (grasslands, woodlands, prairies, etc)

Rangelands are grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts that are grazed by domestic livestock or wild animals. Types of rangelands include tallgrass and shortgrass prairies, desert grasslands and shrublands, woodlands, savannas, chaparrals, steppes, and tundras. Rangelands do not include forests lacking grazable understory vegetation, barren desert, farmland, or land covered by solid rock, concrete and/or glaciers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tallgrass prairie</span> Ecosystem native to central North America

The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America. Historically, natural and anthropogenic fire, as well as grazing by large mammals provided periodic disturbances to these ecosystems, limiting the encroachment of trees, recycling soil nutrients, and facilitating seed dispersal and germination. Prior to widespread use of the steel plow, which enabled large scale conversion to agricultural land use, tallgrass prairies extended throughout the American Midwest and smaller portions of southern central Canada, from the transitional ecotones out of eastern North American forests, west to a climatic threshold based on precipitation and soils, to the southern reaches of the Flint Hills in Oklahoma, to a transition into forest in Manitoba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kazakh Steppe</span> Steppe region in Kazakhstan

The Kazakh Steppe, also called the Great Dala, is a vast region of open grassland in northern Kazakhstan and adjacent portions of Russia. It lies east of the Pontic steppe and west of the Emin Valley steppe, with which it forms part of the Eurasian steppe. The Kazakh Steppe is an ecoregion of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome in the Palearctic realm. Before the mid-nineteenth century it was called the Kirghiz steppe, 'Kirghiz' being an old Russian word for the Kazakhs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intermountain West</span> Geographic region of the Western United States

The Intermountain West, or Intermountain Region, is a geographic and geological region of the Western United States. It is located between the front ranges of the Rocky Mountains on the east and the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada on the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mongolian–Manchurian grassland</span> Ecoregion in East Asia

The Mongolian-Manchurian grassland, also known as the Mongolian-Manchurian steppe in the temperate grassland biome, is an ecoregion in East Asia covering parts of Mongolia, the Chinese Autonomous region of Inner Mongolia, and Northeast China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Central Texas forests</span> Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of Oklahoma and Texas, United States

The East Central Texas forests (33) is a small temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion almost entirely within the state of Texas, United States. The northern forests perimeter is partially within the southeast Oklahoma border.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wyoming Basin shrub steppe</span> Xeric shrubland ecoregion of the western United States

The Wyoming Basin shrub steppe ecoregion, within the deserts and xeric shrublands biome, is a shrub steppe in the northwestern United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mixed grass prairie</span> Ecotone located between tall and shortgrass prairie

A mixed-grass prairie is an ecotone located between the tallgrass prairies and shortgrass prairies. The mixed-grass prairie is richer in ecological diversity than either the tall- or shortgrass prairie. The mixed-grass prairie occurs in the central plains portion of the Great Plains, varying in width from central Texas in the United States up into southeastern Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan in the northern mixed grasslands of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Great Plains (ecoregion)</span> Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion of the United States

The Central Great Plains are a semiarid prairie ecoregion of the central United States, part of North American Great Plains. The region runs from west-central Texas through west-central Oklahoma, central Kansas, and south-central Nebraska.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Argentine Espinal</span>

The Espinal (NT0801) is an ecoregion of dry, thorny forest, savanna and steppe in Argentina. It has been extensively modified by large scale cattle ranching, but remnants of the original flora remain. It is threatened by the advance of the irrigation-based agricultural frontier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East European forest steppe</span>

The East European forest steppe ecoregion is a patchwork of broadleaf forest stands and grasslands (steppe) that stretches 2,100 km across eastern Europe from the Ural Mountains in Ural, through Povolzhye, Central Russia to the middle of Ukraine.There are also isolated areas of similar character off the western end in eastern Romania, Moldova, and Bulgaria. The region forms a transition zone between the temperate forests to the north, and the steppe to the south. The forest-steppe is an area of Russia in which precipitation and evaporation are approximately equal. The ecoregion is in the Palearctic realm, with a Humid Continental climate. According to one definition of its boundaries, it covers 727,269 km2 (280,800 sq mi).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 CC-BY-SA-icon-80x15.png  This article incorporates text available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license.World Wide Fund for Nature. "Temperate Grasslands, Savannas and Shrubland Ecoregions". Archived from the original on 2011-04-01. Retrieved 2021-04-24.
  2. Hilbig, W (1995). The vegetation of Mongolia. Amsterdam: SPB Academic Press.
  3. Manoel Cláudio da Silva Jánior, Christopher William Fagg, Maria Cristina Felfili, Paulo Ernane Nogueira, Alba Valéria Rezende, and Jeanine Maria Felfili 2006 “Chapter 4. Phytogeography of Cerrado Sensu Stricto and Land System Zoning in Central Brazil” in “Neotropical Savannas and Seasonally Dry Forests: Plant Diversity, Biogeography, and Conservation” R. Toby Pennington, James A. Ratter (eds) 2006 CRC Press
  4. David R. Harris, ed. (1980). Human Ecology in Savanna Environments . London: Academic Press. pp.  3, 5–9, 12, 271–278, 297–298. ISBN   978-0-12-326550-0.