GrasslandsBy: Jessica Bollmann and Jenn Bonilla

Grasslands FactsGrasslands are considered the transitional biome. This means that grasslands are usually found between the desert and the forest. It would become a forest if grasslands received more rain. If it received any less rain, it would be a desert.

One fifth of the Earth's land surface is grassland.

Grasslands are found on every continent except Antarctica.

About 800 million people live in grasslands.

There are three types of grasslands:

Tall grasslands have very tall grass, up to 5 feet tall, and they get almost 30 inches of rain a year.

Mixed grasslands have grasses that grow around 2-3 feet high, and get around 15-25 inches of rain in a year.

Short grasslands have very short grass and only receives 10 inches of rain each year. This grassland is almost considered a desert.

Where are grasslands found?Central North America

Coastal/Central South America

Africa

Coastal Australia

India

Central Europe

Where are grasslands found?

Major Producers in Grasslands

Buffalo Grass

Sunflower

Crazy Weed

Asters

Blazing Stars

Coneflowers

Goldenrods

Clover

Wild Indigos

Asters

Blazing StarsGoldenrods

Facts about the ProducersConeflower can grow to height of 6 feet if planted in moist soil.

Shrubs and trees occur very rarely in this biome.

The many types on grasses in Grasslands will survive fires because of their underground buds and stems.

The trees and shrubs that grow in grassland are easily destroyed in fires.

Of every six plants found in pristine South African Grasslands only one is a grass.

There are more than 100 common plant species in the Mpumalanga grasslands alone.

More than 50% of the plants listed as threatened in the former Transvaal and 43% in KwaZulu-Natal are located in the moist areas of Grasslands.

Major Consumers in Grasslands

Tigers

Lions

Bison

Wolves

Hyena

Black rhinoceros

Warthog

Zebra

African elephant

Giraffe

Facts about the ConsumersAll grasslands lack predators.

That is why the majority of the animals living there are plant eating or herbivorous ungulates, which are animals that have long legs and hoofs, like deer and horses.

Many of the consumers eat other animals along with plants to obtain energy.

Basic Food Chain

Basic Food Web

Major Natural RecoursesOrganic rich soil: built up by tall grass prairie are well adapted to agriculture - they retain fertility and good structure.

Fields for grazing animals, growing crops, and building homes or farms.

Grasses:

Cool season grasses, such as orchard grass, timothy, tall fescue, and Kentucky bluegrass are commonly found in lawns and pastures.Warm season grasses, such as Indian grass, big and little bluestem, grow best in warm weather. Native grasslands and unplowed prairie remnants are dominated by native warm season grasses. These grasses provide environmental benefits to land managers, including reduced maintenance, drought tolerance, soil improvement, and wildlife habitat.

Environmental ConcernsBecause the soil in these areas is incredibly rich and the land is flat and treeless, most of this biome has been turned into farms or ranches. The result of this overuse and consumption of the grassland by diminishing the prairie regions.

Plowing of grasslands, combined with wind has lead to huge dust storms, such as those which created the Great Dust Bowl in the American Depression of the mid 1920s.

Finally, in dryer areas, overgrazing and salt build-up from irrigation of the land have turned these areas into near-wastelands.

Endangered Animal

Asian Elephant

Only about 30,000 are left.

They are herbivores.

Live in South and Southeast Asia

They are highly endangered, they face threats from conversion of their habitat to agricultural use.

Endangered Animal

Gevry’s Zebra

The Gevry Zebra is more like a mule.

Herbivores

There are fewer than 6,000

Located in Northern Kenya and Southern/ Eastern Ethiopia

Listed on World Conservation Union’s red list of threatened animals.

Competition with domestic grazing animals, habitat destruction, and human disturbance at critical watering holes contribute to their decline.

Endangered Plants

Serpentine soil: occurs in fault zones and tends to have high levels of heavy meals such as zinc and magnesium; also has low levels of nutrients.

San Mateo thorn-mint: an aromatic annualherb of the mint family.

A small plant that has white flowers sometimes tinted purple, and are in tight clusters.

Its restricted to serpentine soils of grasslands in San Mateo County in California. The remaining population is located in Edgewood County.

Endangered PlantsMarin Dwarf-flax: delicate annual plant in the flax family. Clusters of small rose to whitish flowers.

Found on serpentine ridges covered with bunchgrass from Marin County to San Mateo County in California.

Residential development and road and freeway construction have eliminated five of the historically known populations of Marin western flax.

ReferencesBC Grasslands (

http://www.bcgrasslands.org/wher

eintheworldaregrasslands.htm

)

Exploring Nature (

http://www.exploringnature.org/gr

aphics/foodwebs/savannah_foodw

eb72.jpg

)

Picture from google images

http://animals.nationalgeographic.

com/animals/mammals/asian-elep

hant

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/

africansavanna/fact-gzebra.cfm

www.nps.gov/goga/naturescience/

endangered-grassland-plants.htm

http://

www.hcs.ohio-state.edu/hcs300/bi

ome.htm

http://

ohioline.osu.edu/b915/part_three.

html