Grasslands Top Panel Who lives in grasslands?
Grasslands Top Panel

   Grasslands Map Seas of grass
Grasslands develop wherever rainfall is not high enough to produce a forest nor light enough to form a desert. There are few trees in true grasslands, either because the climate is too dry or the soils are too poor. In other areas, grasslands develop because grazing and browsing by wild animals, or frequent fires, or both, prevents tree seedlings from growing.

Temperate grasslands are found where the summers are hot, the winters cold, and rainfall is low throughout the year. Tropical grasslands grow where temperatures are relatively high all year round and rainfall occurs seasonally.

Grasslands are dominated by grasses and grasslike plants. Grasses are very special plants that can keep on growing no matter how much they are nibbled by animals --because their growing points are situated low down near the soil. Grasslands can therefore support a high density of grazing animals. Many grass species can grow back quickly after a fire has swept through the grassland, and some have seeds that can grow after being burned in a fire. Many grasslands in Australia, Africa and South America are maintained by fires.

Because grasses are wind-pollinated plants, their flowers tend to small and modest compared to plants that need to attract insects for pollination.

Grasslands are called different names in different parts of the world: --"steppes" in Asia; "prairies" in North America; "pampas", "llanos" and "cerrados" in South America; "savannahs" and "velds" in Africa; and "rangelands" in Australia.

Changing Landscape
Grasslands have other types of plants besides the true grasses. They have a number of herbaceous flowering plants and a variety of scattered trees and bushes.

Grasslands change their appearance throughout the year. In winter (or in the tropical dry season), grasslands look drab and lifeless. In the temperate grasslands, spring brings about a transformation as tender shoots emerge, the grass starts growing, and the first flowers bloom. A similar change is seen in tropical grasslands when the onset of the rainy season changes the landscape from dull brown to bright green.


Conservation Concern
The world's natural grasslands are fragile but dynamic ecosystems that are home to many uniquely adapted animals and plants. But most of the world's natural grasslands, including vast areas of the Russian steppes and American prairies, have been converted to wheat or corn fields, and the East African savannahs are facing the same threat.

Worldwide, grassland wildlife must compete with domestic livestock which are too often kept in such high numbers that overgrazing and soil erosion occurs.

WWF is concerned that the world's remaining grasslands are protected. Among WWF's "Global 200" -- the world's most important ecoregions -- a number of grassland ecosystems are listed. They include five areas of temperate grasslands (including the Mongolian steppes, North American tallgrass prairie and Patagonian grasslands) and eleven tropical grasslands ecosystems in South America, Africa, Asia and Australasia.

 
 
Virtual
Wildlife
Polar
Region
Coniferous
forests
Temperate
forests
Deserts Tropical
forests
Mountains Oceanic
Islands
Freshwater
wetlands
Oceans Top of page