Grasslands in the World

Grasslands in the World

Grasslands are found in areas with not enough rainfall for the growth of a forest, but it is adequate to support the growth of grasses. The grasslands can be said as a connecting link between deserts and forests.

Grassland can be defined as an area where vegetation is dominated by grasses. These are found on all continents except Antarctica. The grasslands are one of the largest biomes on earth. It supports a variety of species. For example, African Savana feeds animals including zebras, wildebeest, gazelles, and giraffes.

Grasslands hold about 20 percent of global soil carbon stocks. Herbaceous (non-wooded) vegetation dominates grasslands and, unlike forests, carbon is stored in the roots and soil underground. Furthermore, this above-ground biomass carbon is relatively short-lived due to grazing, fire, and senescence. In contrast, grassland species have an extensive fibrous root system, with grasses often accounting for 60-80% of the biomass carbon in this ecosystem.

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Degradation of Grasslands:

The Grasslands are the most threatened ecosystems. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the most significant threat to grasslands is human land use, especially agriculture and mining.

Types of Grasslands

Mainly the grasslands are subdivided into two types, namely

Tropical and subtropical Grasslands
Temperate Grasslands

Some other types of grasslands:

Flooded
Montane
Tundra grassland
Desert and Xeric

Tropical and subtropical Grasslands:

Tropical and subtropical grasslands and savannahs 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.

For tropical and subtropical grassland types the rainfall level is between 90 and 150 Cm per year.

The tropical grasslands are home to a variety of species like elephants, giraffes, lions, cheetahs, zebra, etc.

Examples of some tropical grasslands:

Savannah- East Africa
Compos- Brazil
Llanos- situated to the east of the Andes in Cambodia and Venezuela, in north-western South America.

Temperate Grasslands

Temperate grasslands are Mid-latitude grasslands and are similar to tropical grassland but the climatic conditions are different. The temperate grasslands consist of cold withers and warm summers with 25cm and 75 cm rainfall annually.

The best example of temperate grasslands are Shrub lands. Temperate grassland is classified as Temperate grasslands, savannahs, and shrublands.

These grasslands are home to many animals such as bison, gazelles, zebras, rhinoceros, wild horses, mice, rabbit’s other carnivores animals like lions, wolves, cheetahs, leopards, prairie dogs, etc.

Example of Temperate Grasslands:

Pampas- Argentina
Prairie- America
Veld-South Africa
Steppe-Asia
Down-Australia

Flooded Grasslands:

Flooded grasslands are those grasslands that are flooded seasonally or year-round.

Example of flooded grasslands:

Everglades of Florida: everglades are the world’s largest rain-fed flooded grassland.
The Pantanal of Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay

Montane Grasslands:

The Montane are high-altitude grasslands located on high Mountain ranges. An example of Montane grassland is Paramo a high-altitude ecosystem of the Andes Mountain.

Tundra Grasslands:

These are similar to montane grassland, Polar Arctic tundra can have grasses, but high soil moisture means that few tundras are grass-dominated today.

Desert and Xeric Grasslands:

Also called desert grasslands, they are composed of sparse grassland ecoregions located in the desert and xeric shrubland biome. Temperature extremes and low amounts of rainfall characterize these kinds of grasslands. Therefore, plants and animals are well adapted to minimize water loss.

Major grasslands of the world on the map

List of grasslands of the world

A list of important grasslands in the world is given in the table below:

Grasslands	Regions
Steppe Steppes occur in a temperate climate, and have seasonal temperature changes with cold winters and warm summers. Steppes are semi-arid and receive 25 to 50 cm of rain annually. The Eurasian steppe is the largest temperate grassland in the world.	Europe and North Asia (Eurasia and Europe)
Pustaz	Hungary
Prairies The Prairies ecosystem is a part of the Temperate Grassland	USA (North America USA Canada)
Pampas	Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay (South America)
Veld	South Africa
Downs	Australia
Canterbury	New Zealand
Savannah	Africa and Australia The largest area of Savannah is found in Africa, South America, Australia, Asia (India), etc.
Taiga	Europe and Asia
Llanos	Cambodia and Venezuela (South America)
Compos	Brazil

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassland

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Degradation of Grasslands: