[...]... Southern Hemisphere to the south of the tropic of Capricorn, and that is why southern temperate grasslands are confined to part of Argentina and a small area of Peru and South Africa Savanna grassland covers a large part of Africa, extending from the southern edge of the Sahara to the southeastern tip 1 2 GRASSLANDS tropic of Cancer equator tropic of Capricorn Distribution of temperate and tropical grasslands. .. Sedges (Carex species) and feather grasses (Stipa species) grow there, and parts of the meadow-steppe are used to graze livestock Dry-steppe lies to the south of the meadow-steppe There the ground is dry most of the time because the annual rainfall is less than the amount of water that could evaporate in a year Shorter feather grasses grow there, such as Ukrainian feather grass (Stipa ucrainica); S...X GRASSLANDS form a complicated network of feeding interactions, and, at the base of the system, microbes in the soil are ready to consume the energy-rich plant litter or dead animal flesh that remains The biome, then, is an integrated unit within which each species plays its particular role This set of books aims to outline the main features of each of the Earth s major biomes The biomes covered... include the tundra habitats of polar regions and high mountains, the taiga (boreal forest) and temperate forests of somewhat warmer lands, the grasslands of the prairies and the tropical savanna, the deserts of the world’s most arid locations, and the tropical forests of the equatorial regions The wetlands of the world, together with river and lake habitats, do not lie neatly in climatic zones over the. .. it in the middle of the 19 th century described an area 400 miles (640 km) long that in spring was a mass of yellow and purple flowers Purple needlegrass (Stipa pulchra) was the predominant grass Steppe From the Danube in the west to Mongolia and China, 3,500 miles (9,000 km) to the east, and from the edge of the Sahara and the Arabian Desert in the south to the taiga in the north, the grasslands of Europe... temperatures and the incessant wind mean that the rate of evaporation is high, making the soil very dry Prairie The first Europeans to gaze upon the grasslands of North America were French They approached from the east and GEOGRAPHY OF GRASSLANDS 5 saw before them an ocean of waving grass extending across the level plain as far as the horizon As they moved through it and the horizon receded, the grassland... the global distribution, the climate, the rocks and soils, the plants and animals, the history, and the environmental problems found within each biome Together, the set provides students with a sound basis for understanding the wealth of the Earth s biodiversity, the factors that influence it, and the future dangers that face the planet and our species Is there any practical value in studying the biomes. .. biomes of the Earth? Perhaps the most compelling reason to understand the way in which biomes function is to enable us to conserve their rich biological resources The world’s productivity is the PREFACE basis of the human food supply The world’s biodiversity holds a wealth of unknown treasures, sources of drugs and medicines that will help to improve the quality of life Above all, the world’s biomes. .. continues until spring In the Tropics the dry season begins in early summer and most of the rain falls in the winter Although grasses are the most abundant plants in all grassland, there are many types of grasses, and grasslands are not all the same Tropical grasslands lie between the edge of the subtropical deserts and the tropical forests They are often called savanna (or savannah) grasslands, a name that... grasses themselves, and many of the animals that find food and shelter among the plants die or move away If we wish the members of the natural grassland community to survive, we must preserve areas of the grassland itself CHAPTER 1 GEOGRAPHY OF GRASSLANDS Where grasslands occur Grasslands once covered more than 40 percent of the Earth s land surface Grasses are geographically more widespread than any other . from the publisher. For information contact: Chelsea House An imprint of Infobase Publishing 13 2 West 31st Street New York NY 10 0 01 ISBN -1 3 : 97 8-0 - 816 0-5 32 3-0 ISBN -1 0 : 0-8 16 0-5 32 3-5 Library of. numbers 15 3 Mammal migrations 15 5 CHAPTER 7 PEOPLES OF THE GRASSLANDS 15 8 Peoples of the prairie 15 8 Homesteaders and the way the prairie was transformed 16 0 Indians and gauchos: The peoples of the. change 211 The greenhouse effect 212 Expansion of towns and roads 214 CHAPTER 11 MANAGING THE GRASSLANDS 218 Lessons from the Dust Bowl 218 Ranching on equatorial grasslands 220 Farming tropical grasslands