What is a grassland? What kinds of grasslands are there and where are they found?
Why You Should Care
Grasslands! are ecosystems with few or no woody plants (trees or shrubs), either because of insufficient water or routine disturbance like fire or grazing. Most grasslands follow the periphery of the world’s deserts and are therefore distributed in the same belt-like patterns around the globe at the same latitudes.
Take a look at the map below and you’ll see that grasslands are found in both developed and developing countries. Some, like those in Sub-Saharan African countries are in danger of desertification by overuse and overpopulation. This diminishment of grasslands and the services they provide are both contributing causes as well as effects of social unrest in many of those countries. In the United States, former prairies are ending up as cornfields and grazing land. This is associated with a loss of biodiversity, overuse of groundwater for irrigation, and loss of topsoil.
Where in the world?
Grasslands around the planet have acquired different regional names, and they are different from each other in terms of the diversity of species and growth forms or climate. Do you know the names? Match the local grassland names to their photo and location on earth.
This grassland ecosystem found in sub-tropical South America is kept treeless by having frequent, natural fires.
A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct.
Incorrect.
7.
The grassland ecosystem found at roughly the same latitudes as the North American prairie.
A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct.
Incorrect.
8.
Thought Question: If you know your world biomes, you may have noticed that many of the world’s grasslands are bordered by forest on one side and desert on the other. Can you propose an explanation for this?
Besides overgrazing and fire, another factor preventing much woody vegetation from growing in a grassland is climate. Many grasslands are in an intermediate zone, where there is enough water for plenty of vegetation just not trees.
