Tropical grassland

1. Tropical grassland By: Christian Crawford & Jose Lira

2. Characteristics • Most grasslands are located between forest and deserts. • About one quarter of the Earth’s land is covered with grasslands. • Tropical grasslands are warm year-round, But usually have dry and rainy season. • One of the most recognizable species, including elephants, giraffes, rhinos, zebras, lions, hyenas and warthogs.

3. Characteristics • Associated with Africa, and savanna-type grasslands found in India, Australia, Nepal and the Americans. • Characterized by drought-resistant shrubs and grasses. • Dotted with trees such as; acacias, or baobabs • Plentiful food that springs into life in the wet seasons draws and supports huge herds of grazing animals.

4. Tropical Grasslands Climate • The major temperature gradient is from warm temperatures in southern grassland to cooler temperatures in the north. The gradient is steeper for January temperatures than for July temperatures. Colder winter temperatures in the north have many implications for both plants and animals. However, snow cover in the north may ameliorate extremely cold air temperatures at the soil surface. Winter temperatures in southern locations allow cool-season plant growth almost any time that there is adequate soil moisture * Annual precipitation increases from about 320 mm at Greeley, Colorado, to nearly 900 mm at Kansas City, Missouri. Seasonal precipitation patterns also vary from south to north in the central plains

5. Tropical Grassland Location • When European settlers first moved into the central portion of what is now the United States of America, they encountered an extensive, unbroken grassland extending from the prairies of Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico. While this grassland was generally free from woody plants, apparently there was a dynamic ecotone between the mountains and deserts to the west and the eastern deciduous forests in central and northern portions of the grassland

6. Tropical Grasslands location

7. Species of plants & animals • * Tropical grasslands tend to have more trees than temperate grasslands, • * Tropical grasslands lack colorful flowering plants that grow abundantly in temperate grasslands • The concentrations of trees in the tropical grasslands are low and, typically, scattered • Wooded and grassy steppe areas are even drier than the dry savanna. Only tussocks and short, thorned trees grow there Plants: • Grasses and Sedges • Hat thrower fungus • Orchids Animals: • Lions • Cheetahs • Jaguar • springbok

8. Species of plants & animals * Grasslands around the world are home to unique kinds of animal life that can survive in these biomes. * Large sized grazers like the bison, as has been mentioned above, used to roam the grasslands of North America, until the settlers hunted them nearly to extinction as they moved west. • have the common features of having plenty of grass as food and lacking cover from predators. • Hence the types of animals that inhabit the grasslands around the world are similar, being predominantly plant eating or herbivorous. • animals that have long legs and hoofs, like deer and horses, which enable them to outrun their predators.

9. Humans affect on the biome • Human had caused a lot of changes to the landscape of and the animals in grasslands since a long time ago. • Large areas of grassland have been turned into farmlands for growing crops and for rearing cattle • fires are started by human and they spread quickly through grasses and damage the soils • a large number of animals have been hunted for their valuable body parts

10. Humans affect on the biome • Today, only about 1% of grasslands is officially protected • Governments are now more aware of this issue. In some places, national parks are set up to preserve the grasslands and grasses are replanted in some other places where grasses have been cleared for farming. • This increasing awareness is certainly necessary in protecting the grassland biome.