Grassland Ecosystem

Corinthia M. Baker

American Intercontinental University

Environmental Science (SCIE210-1503B-08)

Lindsey Nieratka

August 28, 2015

Grasslands are areas that are made up of mostly grass, and have little to no trees. Grasslands are divided into temperate grasslands and tropical grasslands and they occupy about one quarter of the Earth.

Grasslands are made up of mostly grasses and you can find this biome in forests and deserts such as Asia, where grassland surrounds every desert. Latitude, soil and local climates for the most part determine what kinds of plants grow in particular grassland. The average annual precipitation in grassland biomes are constantly changing but are great enough for the grass that surrounds the area as well as the few trees this particular biome may or may not have. The precipitation is so immense that drought and fire prevent large forests from growing (ucmp.berkeley.edu). Grass grows from the bottom instead of the top it making it much easier to survive fires and their stems can grow again after being burned off while on the other hand the soil in most grasslands is just too thin and dry for trees to survive. Grasslands cover up to 40 percent of the earth's land surface and many are being used today for crop production (ucmp.berkeley.edu). Grasslands can be categorized as temperate or tropical. Temperate grasslands also known as Prairies, have cold winters and hot summers and contain deep, fertile soils while tropical grasslands also known as Savannas, are much cooler during the dry season and it’s temperature does not change a lot. The driest grasslands (30 to 45 centimeters of rainfall) are known as short grass prairies, with grasses no taller than 20 centimeters and theses grasslands can be found in areas such as Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico (ucmp.berkeley.edu).

Grasslands have abiotic factors that include but are not limited to the sun, wind and rain. The climate in the grassland ecosystem happens to be one of the most...