Temperate grasslands exist on every continent except Antarctica and contain a variety of grasses, flowers, and herbs. The climate is hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Many animals like coyotes, eagles, and prairie dogs have adapted behaviors and physical traits to survive in the grasslands. While trees cannot grow due to low moisture, flowers thrive with nutrients from decaying plant matter. Humans have negatively impacted grasslands through farming and overhunting.
2. About a quarter of the world is grasslands, every continent has a grassland, except the Artic and Antarctic. In the summer it’s really hot and in the winter it’s cold. Grasslands are covered in grasses, herbs and flowers. ("Buzzle Web Portal: Intelligent Life on the Web") The Grasslands here are some temperate prairies: North American Prairies, South American Pampas, Eurasian Steppe and South American Veld. (Whitfield, Moore, and Cox 70-71) What is the Temperate Grasslands/Prairies? Next Prev.
3. Pictures of Temperate Praires http://packerpedia.wiki.packer.edu/file/view/34_14TemperateGrassland_CNL.jpe/31115653/34_14TemperateGrassland_CNL.jpe Picture of Buffalo eating Grass http://seoeun01px2009.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/buffalo-grass3.jpg / Temperate Prairies Next Prev.
4. 50% of the grasslands are covered in grass the rest are forbs (forbs is a shortened word for “Euphorbiaceae”.) These are some species of grasses and forbs: Grey-Headed Cone, Lupines, Milkweed, Big Blue stem, Broom Sedge, Prairie Cord Grass, Indian Grass and Ironweed. ("Grassland habitat") Trees can’t grow because of the lack of moisture, but flowers can grow because of the fast decay of humus, which lets out nutrients for them. ("Grassland") Plants of the Temperate Grassland Next Prev.
5. Pictures of Plants of Temperate Prairies http://www.hamiltonnature.org/habitats/habitat_images/Prairie-Grass-Photo-1.jpg / Grey-Headed Coneflowers (http://www.hamiltonnature.org/habitats/habitat_images/Wild-Bergamot.jpg/ Wild Bergamot Next Prev.
6. Animals Types of Animals: Mammals, Insects and Birds Behavioral and Physical Adaptations Female Coyotes give birth in Spring and can have up to 5 or 6 pups. Coyotes have great hearing when they can hear every step of their prey and when they sense danger they run straight away. The Bald Eagle can put it’s large nests on trees, ground and cliffs. These eagles will also change their nutrients depending on where they live. The Prairie Dogs live in burrows called towns . They leave 2 open holes for running away and for air. Also they don’t like really small places either because they can’t see if they’re in danger or not. (“Blue Planet Biome”) Next Prev.
7. Some Large Mammals: Cheetah, Elk, Coyote, The “Big Horn” Sheep and Leopards. Some small mammals: Swift Fox, Bush Dog, Pouched Mouse, European snow vole, Doe, Buck, Iranian jerboa, Alai mole vole, Highveld gerbil, Common long-nosed armadillo and Steppe pika. Some animals like the African Elephant in the Temperate Grassland Migrate during the winter because it gets really cold. ("Temperate Grassland Animals") Types of Mammals Next Prev.
8. Pictures of Temperate grassland Mammals African Elephant http://thewebsiteofeverything.com/img/African_elephant.JPG Swift Fox http://thewebsiteofeverything.com/img/swift_fox.jpg Next Prev.
9. Most common birds that live in the temperate prairies like Quails migrate during the cold seasons to more warmer places then in the warm season they come back. The most common insect is the bumble bees, ants, crickets, grass hoppers and mosquitoes. ("Absolute Astronomy") Some Omnivores (Meat and Herb eater), while eating the grass they will eat the insects with them, insects like grasshoppers and crickets. These insects give them nutrients. Birds and Insects Next Prev.
10. Pictures of Birds and Insects of Temperate Prairies The Bald Eagle http://homepage.mac.com/wildlifeweb/bird/bald_eagle/bald_eagle_06tk.jpg Bumble Bee http://www.eduwebs.org/bugs/bumble_bee.jpg Next Prev.
11. The climate in winter goes below 18oC in parts of the places while in the summer it can reach above 32oC. (Bailey) The rain in in the temperate grasslands don’t come often as the tall-grass prairies. That’s why the grasses are short The soil is deep and dark very fertile lot’s of nutrients which allows lots of plants to grow but trees don’t grow because of the lack of moisture.(Webber) Aboitic Factors Next Prev.
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13. Map of Grassland http://www.deepcreektimes.com/kids/world_grasslands_map.jpg Next Prev.
14. Bibliography 1.("Buzzle Web Portal: Intelligent Life on the Web"): "Grassland Biome: Animals and Plants." Buzzle Web Portal: Intelligent Life on the Web. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar 2010. <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/grassland-biome-animals-and-plants.html>. 2.(Whitfield, Moore, and Cox 70-71): Whitfield, Philip, Peter Moore, and Barry Cox. "Temperate grassland." Macmillan Reference USA, Print. 3.(“Blue Planet Biome”) :"Prairie Animal Page." Blue Planet Biomes. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. <http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/prairie_animal_page.htm>. 4. ("Grassland habitat") :"Grassland Plants." Grassland habitat. Habitats of Hamilton and Halton, n.d. Web. 15 Mar 2010. <http://www.hamiltonnature.org/habitats/grasslands/grass_plants.htm>. 5. (Webber):Webber, Charles. "The grassland biome." University of California Museum of Paleontology. California Academy of Sciences., 2002. Web. 17 Mar 2010. <http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/biomes/grasslands.php>. Next Prev.
15. 6.("Grassland") :"Animals and Plants in Temperate Grassland." Grassland. ThinkQuest team, n.d. Web. 15 Mar 2010. <http://library.thinkquest.org/26634/grass/Temperate/animal.htm>. 7. ("Temperate Grassland Animals"):"Temperate Grassland Animals." Temperate Grassland Animals. TheWebsiteOfEverything.com, 2010. Web. 16 Mar 2010. <http://thewebsiteofeverything.com/habitats/Temperate_Grassland.html>. 8. ("Absolute Astronomy") : "Grassland." Absolute Astronomy. AbsoluteAstronomy.com, 2010. Web. 16 Mar 2010. <http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Grassland>. 9.(Bailey): Bailey, Regina. "Land Biomes: Temperate Grasslands." About.com:Biology. About.com, n.d. Web. 17 Mar 2010. <http://biology.about.com/od/landbiomes/a/aa042106a.htm>. 10. (ID1276710947):ID1276710947, . "How do humans effect grassland?." Online Posting to WikiAnswers. Web. 17 Mar 2010. 11. ("Grassland") : "Human Impacts on Grassland." Grassland. ThinkQuest team, 1999. Web. 17 Mar 2010. <http://library.thinkquest.org/26634/grass/impact.htm>. Bibliography Prev. From the Beginning
