global grasslands revised august 2014 low res · indomalayan mesic savanna and grasslands...

Map design by Adam P. DixonScience & Innovation World Wildlife Fund - United StatesAugust 2014

1. a non-wetland formation;

2. at least 10% vascular vegetation canopy cover;

4. broad-leaved herbs (forbs) may have variable levels of cover and dominance;

3. graminoids have at least 25% (but if < 25% cover, graminoids exceed that of other herbaceous and shurb cover);

5. shurbs have < 25% canopy cover;

5. and trees: (i) temperate regions, trees typically have < 10% canopy cover, are <5 m tall and single-layered, (ii) or in tropical regions, trees typically have less than 40% canopy cover, are < 8 m tall, and single-layered.

Unmapped North American Grasslands Vancouverian and Rocky Mountain Grassland & ShrublandEastern North American Grassland, Meadow & ShrublandWestern North America Interior Sclerophyllous Chaparral ShrublandSoutheastern North American Grassland & ShrublandNorth American Boreal Grassland, Meadow & ShrublandCaribbean and Central American Montane Shrubland and Grassland

Unmapped Oceana Grasslands Polynesian Montane Shrubland, Grassland & SavannaEastern Melanesian Montane Shrubland, Grassland & SavannaIndomalayan Mesic Savanna and GrasslandsPolynesian Lowland Shrubland, Grassland & SavannaEastern Melanesian Lowland Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna

Unmapped Eurasian Grasslands Mediterranean Basin Montane Grassland & ScrubEuropean Grassland & HeathIndomalayan Mesic Savanna and GrasslandsPolynesian Lowland Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna

1:35,000,000

National and international policy frameworks – such as the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive – increasingly seek to conserve and reference ‘highly biodiverse grasslands’. We propose a synthesized

biogeographic methodology to characterize grassland types with the Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World (TEOW) – a spatial regionalization of the earth’s terrestrial biodiversity.

We mapped forty-nine taxonomically distinct macroscale vegetation assemblages. Sixteen additional distinct but with limited extent grassland types are recognized, but unable to be mapped with our approach.

Australia Warm Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland

Australian Alpine Scrub, Forb Meadow& Grassland

Australian Mediterranean Scrub

Australian Temperate Grassland & Shrubland

Australian Tropical Savanna

Indomalayan Montane Meadow

New Guinea Montane Meadow

New Zealand Alpine Scrub, Forb Meadow & Grassland

New Zealand Grassland & Shrubland

Central Asian Alpine Scrub, Forb Meadow & Grassland

Eastern Eurasian Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & GrasslandMediterranean Basin Dry Grassland

European Alpine Vegetation

Eurasian Boreal Grassland, Meadow & Shrubland

Eastern Eurasian Grassland & Shrubland

Northeast Asia Grassland & Shrubland

Western Eurasian Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland

Western Eurasian Grassland & Shrubland

South African Cape Mediterranean Scrub

West-Central African Mesic Woodland and Savanna

Sudano Sahelian Dry Savanna

Southern African Montane Grassland

North Sahel Semi-Desert Scrub and Grassland

Mopane Savanna

Miombo and Associated Broadleaf Savanna

Mediterranean Basin Dry Grassland

Eastern and Southern African Dry Savanna & Woodland

Eastern Africa Xeric Scrub and Grassland

African Montane Grassland & Shrubland

African (Madagascan) Montane Grassland and Shrubland

Guianan Montane Shrubland and Grassland

Brazilian-Parana Freshwater Marsh, Wet Meadow & Shrubland

Guianan Lowland Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna

Amazonian Shrubland & Savanna

Colombian-Venezuelan Lowland Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna

Pampean Grassland & Shrubland (semi-arid Pampa)

Pampean Grassland & Shrubland

Mediterranean and Southern Andean Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland

Colombian-Venezuelan Freshwater Marsh, Wet Meadow & Shrubland

Chaco Freshwater Marsh and Shrubland

Brazilian-Parana Montane Shrubland and Grassland

Brazilian-Parana Lowland Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna

Patagonian Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland

Patagonian Grassland and Shrubland

Tropical Andean Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland

Tropical Andean Shrubland & Grassland

California Grassland & Meadow

Great Plains Grassland & Shrubland

North American Warm Desert Scrub & Grassland

Western North American Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland

Tropical Lowland Grassland, Shrubland & Savanna

Tropical Montane Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna

Temperate Grassland, Meadow & Shrubland Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland

Warm Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland

Alpine Scrub, Forb Meadow & Grassland

Mediterranean Scrub, Grassland & Forb MeadowTropical Freshwater Marsh, Wet Meadow & Shrubland

Global Grasslands 13,151,600 km2

8,104,830 km 2

5,661,110 km 2

3,030,720 km 2

3,005,020 km 2

1,594,750 km2

591,357 km2

465,015 km246,322 km

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Boreal Grassland, Meadow & Shrubland

Dixon A.P., Faber-Langendoen, D., Josse, C., Morrison, J., Loucks, C.J. (2014) Distribution mapping of world grassland types. Journal of Biogeography, in press.

Faber-Langendoen, D., Keeler-Wolf, T., Meidinger, D., Tart, D., Hoagland, B., Josse, C., Navarro, G., Ponomarenko, J.P.S., Weakley, A. & Comer, P. (2014) EcoVeg: a new approach to vegetation description and classi�cation. Ecological Monographs, in press.

Faber-Langendoen, D., Josse, C. (2010) World Grasslands and Biodiversity Patterns. NatureServe, Arlington, VA.

Olson D.M., Dinerstein, E., Wikramanayake, E.D., Burgess, N.D., Powell, G.V.N., Underwood, E.C., D’Amico, J.A., Itoua, I., Strand, H.E., Morrison, J.C., Loucks, C.J., Allnutt, T.F., Ricketts, T.H., Kura, Y., Lamoreux, J.F., Wettengel, W.W., Hedao, P., Kassem, K.R. (2001) Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World. WWF-United States. Washington, DC.