GRASSLANDS AND SAVANNAS

Locations of Grasslands

• Grasslands are located in the middle latitudes, in areas with too much rain for deserts and too little for forests (yellow to the right).

• Savannas are located near the equator (pink to the right). They have short wet seasons and long dry seasons.

Temperate Grasslands

• In Europe, temperate grasslands are called steppes. In North America, they are called prairies.

• There are three types of grasses which dominate temperate grasslands: shortgrasses, midgrasses, and tall grasses.

Grass Types

• Shortgrasses grow where the climate is the driest, and once dominated the Great Plains.

• Tall grasses appear in the wettest parts of the grassland.

• Midgrasses fill the spaces between areas of tall grasses and shortgrasses.

Tropical Grasslands

• Tropical grasslands, also called savannas, cover much of Africa, and parts of India, Australia, and South America.

• They are covered by clumps of grasses, as short as a few centimeters or as tall as ten feet, with acacia, baobab, and palm trees interspersed.

Seasons in the Savanna

• During the dry season, which is exceptionally long and distinct in tropical grasslands, grasses and trees wither and die, many times being consumed in raging fires.

• When the wet season returns, grasses grow at incredible rates, up to 2.5 centimeters a day.

Animals in the Grassland

• Animals in the temperate grassland primarily are smaller grazing animals.

• Larger animals in the temperate grassland are almost entirely grazing animals.

• Bison at one point dominated the North American grassland.

Animals in the Savanna

• Animal life on the savanna is extremely diverse, far more so than the temperate grassland

• Life consists of everything from small grazers, like hyraxes, to large grazers, like zebras, to predators, like lions, to fast grazers in woody areas, like dik-dik, to slow grazers in watery areas, like hippos.

Overuse of Grasslands

• Grassland is the most overused biome in the world.

• Over 70% of all agriculture occurs in grasslands.

• The European Steppe and the Great Plains have almost completely disappeared to overdevelopment.