grasslands

The Grasslands consist of two parts, the tropical and the temperate Grasslands:

Tropical Grassland-Savanna-

Climate

• Temperature– 20o-30o Celsius

• Average Rainfall– 100-400 mm per year (80% in wet season)

• Sunlight

• Lots of sun during dry season• Grasses are mostly C4

Soil Fertility

• Soil Fertility– Sandy, dusty, high iron

content (reddish color) Not very rich

– Termites turn the soil to air it

– Dead plant matter can’t decompose in dry season

Seasonal Changes

• Wet– 4-5 months– Equatorial low pressure belt– Heavy convectional storms

• 80% total annual rainfall

• Dry– Strong, steady “trade winds”

• Dry and warm as they blow towards equator

Characteristics

• Vegetation– 100-200 mm rainfall-only grasses– 300 mm rainfall-shrubs– < 300 mm rainfall-solitary trees– < 400 mm rainfall- trees, canopy, shade

• Trees-deciduous-lose leaves in winter

• Shrubs/Grasses-C4

Temperate Grasslands

• Prairies, (N. Am. [Great Plains, Palouse, California])

• Steppes (Russia - Ukraine [Hungary-Rumania])

• Pampas (Argentina - Uruguay)

• Veldt (S. Africa); NZ tussock grasslands

Temperate grasslands

prairies, steppes, pampas, veldt…..

Temperate grasslands

• Prairies and steppes have continental climates characterised by large annual range of temperature, cool - cold winters, with most of precipitation as snow, and hot, commonly droughty summers because of high evapotranspiration rates.

North American grasslands

Abilene

Calgary

CheyenneOmaha

Chicago

Palouse prairie

Eastern Washington, and Oregon, Idaho

California grasslands

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