The most endangered biome

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Climate

Animals and vegetation

Food production

human impacts

environmental impacts

solutions

Climate

Temperate grasslands are known to have very hot summers and cold winters. Summer temperatures can well be over 40 degrees celcius, while winter temperatures can be as low as -40 degrees celius. This biome has approximately 10 to 35 inches of precipatation a year. Snow often serves as moisture before growing season which contributes to plant growth. Occasional droughts and fires help maitain grasslands.

Climate

Grassland

Fun Facts

Animals and Vegetation

Grasses are the dominant vegetation. Seasonal drought, occasional fires and grazing by large mammals all prevent woody shrubs and trees from becoming established. A few trees such as cottonwoods, oaks and willows grow in river valleys, and a few hundred species of flowers grow among the grasses. The various species of grasses include purple needlegrass, blue grama, buffalo grass, and galleta. Flowers include asters, blazing stars, coneflowers, goldenrods, sunflowers, clovers, psoraleas, and wild indigos.

Temperate grasslands have a low diversity of wildlife, but a high abundance of wildlife. Diversity is how many different types of animals there are whereas abundance means how much certain animals there are. In North America the dominant grazing animals are bison and pronghorn. Rodents include pocket gophers and prairie dogs. Carnivores include wolves, coyotes, swift foxes, badgers and black-footed ferrets. Birds include grouses, meadowlarks, quails, sparrows, hawks and owls.

animals and vegetation

Food Production

Grains, corn, wheat, oats, barley, millet, rye and sorghum are all produced in grasslands. Grasslands are important for agriculture because the soils are deep and fertile. Another way to give people a food source using the grassland biome is by gazing animals such as sheep and cattle. These are later useful for milk from cows for cheese and cream, and also many of these animals are used for their meat.

Most native grasslands have been removed and cleared for crops. Introduced grasses have been added to the land and are used to feed grazing animals that live on the land. Some of the animals include cattle and sheep. Overgrazing grasslands is a leading cause in the biome becoming a desert. The clearing of land for agriculture breaks down the soil and causes erosion. It is used to assist the growth of farming crops in dry areas to help increase food production. Irrigation allows farmers to control the climate for the grasslands. There are two types of irrigation; flood irrigation and modern irrigation. Flood irrigation is the most common form across the world and is when water is distributed over soil surfaces. Waterlogging is the soil in groundwater that helps plant growth and salinity is the presence of salt on the surface of the land. Problems with salinity are a major cause of land being lost to food production. Salt that is added to the soil affects the growth of grasses. Land also becomes useless for farming and the land affected by salinity is more prone to water erosion and winds that blow away the topsoil in grasslands. Fertilisers are organic materials that added to soils to create more plant nutrients. It is estimated that almost half the people on earth are fed as a result of adding fertiliser to food crops. People change the landscape of Grasslands to be able to produce foods. Areas of gentle hills have been flattened, steep slopes have been joined and wetlands have been drained. Basically the areas have been modified to create a suitable land for agriculture.

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Human Impacts

The hunting of animals has been banned due to extinction. People are becoming more aware of the situation and favour in protecting this biome. Negative: - Hundreds of animals have been hunted for valuable body parts. For example, bison's have been hunted for their meat. This caused animals to near extinction. Another negative human impact, would be fires in which were started by humans. When wildfires occur, the fire spreads quickly through the grass, damaging the soil. Due to burning of fossil fuels, climate change may further dwindle grassland health, causing changes in temperature and causing droughts. Humans use Grasslands extensively for agriculture, causing an increase in soil erosion.

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Environmental Impacts

A quarter of Earth was once covered by grasslands, but much of these have now been turned into farms. This has resulted in a widespread loss of wildlife habitat. Grassland soil is rich, and almost anything can be grown there. If crops are not rotated properly, nutrients in the soil are stripped out, and nothing can be grown for several years. Compared to grassland, cropland provides few or no resources for breeding birds. Grazing livestock destroy grassland as well. Continued global warming could turn current grasslands into deserts as rainfall patterns change. Land once incompatible with row-crop agriculture, but which provided a living to ranching families and habitat for prairie wildlife, is being converted to row crops. Development of urban areas is increasingly cutting into grassland habitat. Where only one crop is grown, pests and disease can spread easily, creating the need for potentially toxic pesticides

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Solutions to save Grasslands

To save the grassland biome we could Continue education efforts on how to protect the soil and prevent soil erosion. Rotate agricultural crops to prevent the sapping of nutrients. Plant trees as windbreaks. Conduct dry season burning to obtain fresh growth and to restore calcium to the soil that builds up in the dry grasses by maximizing pastures as the primary source of livestock diets, grasslands provide alternatives to concentrate feed. This reduces the inefficient use of arable land and increases the food that is directly available for human consumption from cereals, grains and legumes. If solutions were ignored, Food production would rapidly decrease as a grasslands are not being maintained with proper care. Future generations would have to ration food and third world countries will have limited amounts of resources in order to survive. In order to have a clean, sustainable food source grasslands must be protected and people must be made aware of this endangered biome or alternatives must be explored such as, more green houses.

Water is the major determining factor in stock management in most extensive grazing lands. In areas dependent on seasonal surface water, stock must move out once sources have dried. Improvement of water supply by creating water points or improving existing ones, and clearing of undesirable vegetation to allow free access for stock and better grass growth, is common to both systems, and provision of minerals or traditional salt licks is frequent. Some trees provide fruit which is eaten by the locals, such trees may be retained selectively and given some protection. Fencing is widely used in the development of commercial grazing enterprises to delimit properties and divide them for ease of management. Block size is generally large on low-yielding grasslands since fencing and fence maintenance are very expensive. This can lead to uneven stock distribution. Fences are also used to protect forages and properties.

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