Grassland
Biome
Climate
In the winter, grassland temperatures can be as low as -40° F, and in the summer it can be as high 70° F. There are two real seasons, a growing season and a dormant season. The growing season is when there is no frost and plants can grow. This can last from 100 to 175 days. During the dormant time no plants can grow due to the fact of it being too cold.
In temperate grassland rainfall averages from 10-30 inches per year. In tropical and sub-tropical grasslands the average rainfall ranges from 25-60 inches per year. This is a very big factor in classifying an area as a grassland because trees require their roots to dig deep and in grassland upper layers are moist part of the year and deeper layers are always dry.
Buffalo Grass
A very hard shallow grass with grey, curly leaves. It is a warm season plant that has adapted to survive in the winter by going dormant and not growing.
Fleabane
A plant of the Aster family. It adapted to bloom from April through June, so it gets necessary amounts of water. They have around 100 petals and grow in clusters. Fleabane can grow to be 4-30 inches high.
Stinging Nettle
The stinging nettle can grow to the height of 2-4 ft. Although it looks harmless, it has a rare quality that if touched with bare skin it will causes a stinging sensation that can last hours or days.
June Grass
June Grass has pale silvery colored flowers. It's lower stems are covered with small hairs. June Grass has adapted itself to grow in soils that are sandy and courser soils, although on occasion it can be found in clay loam soils.
Blue Gama Grass
It makes up 75-90% of the grasses found in grasslands. Blue Gama Grass grows in bunches and can get as tall as 18 inches. It has adapted to have deeper roots after being blown out of the ground during the Dust Bowl.
Bison
Big broad animals with long fur. They have flat topped teeth and special digestive systems adapted to feed on grass.
Upland Sandpiper
A bird that is 11-12 inches long and weighs 6-7 lbs. The have adapted to have a long beaks to pick the bugs off of long grains of grass.
Badger
Badgers have the appearance of having reddish gray fur. They also have a black nose and a long stripe that goes down the center from its nose to its back. They have been know to have very strong claws. Badgers have adapted so that they can easily dig through hard soil and roots.
Plains pocket Gopher
Plains Pocket Gophers areusually 5-9.5 inches long. they have adpated to have very strong front teeth. It uses its front teeth to dig and to gnaw roots and tubers
Sword Bearing Conehead
The sword-bearing conehead is a large, long-horned grasshopper. They have adapted to hear the sounds of some of their predators, such as the sounds put out by bats when they are trying to locate prey.
Predator/Prey Relationship
- Hawks feed on mice
- Mice feed on grass
- Lions feed on zebras
- Bluejays feed on grasshoppers
- Wolves feed on deer
- Foxes feed on squirrels
Cooperation and Competition
- Zebra and wildebeest alert each other to the presence of predators facilitating escape action (cooperation)
- Meerkats post sentry guards that lookout for predators and other dangers and raise an alarm to warn others within the social group (cooperation)
- Lions and hyenas both wanting limited food sources (competition)
- Crocodiles and hippos both wanting a part of a river (competition)
Ecological Concerns
- fires are burning down large areas of grassland
- continued global warming will cause grasslands to turn into deserts
- the continuation of urban development is cutting into grassland areas
The ecological importance of grasslands is that they account for 70% of the worlds agricultural land. It also accounts for 50% of the world's calories.
Additional Information
- grasslands support 81 species per 1000 m²
- fires on grasslands can move as fast as 600 feet per minute
- only around 2% of the original prairies of North America still exist. Much of it has been turned into farmland
Sources
- http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/grasslands.htm
- http://kids.nceas.ucsb.edu/biomes/grassland.html
- http://www.nps.gov/goga/naturescience/endangered-grassland-plants.htm
- http://www.mbgnet.net/sets/grasslnd/animals/
- http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/prairie/htmls/eco_an_adapt.html
- http://www.ducksters.com/science/ecosystems/grasslands_biome.php