Grasslands By: Grant Paulsen, Ryan Foy, and Lauren Dawson

Location

Climate Tropical grasslands are warm year round, but usually have a dry and a rainy season. Temperate grasslands which average between 10 and 30 inches of rain per year, have shorter grasses, and have two seasons, a growing season and a dormant season.

Terrain Grasslands can be flat and hilly. They have layers which include topsoil, mole, wormtunnel, bedrock, fungus, mite, and nematode. The layers represent the way that soil and grass are formed in the grassland biome.

Flora Most of the plant life in the grasslands are grasses. They include Blue Grama, Buffalo grass, Big Blue stem, switch grass and Little Blue Stem just to name a few. The tall grasses will grow where rainfall is about 30 inches a year. The Big Blue stem and switch grass can grow 7 feet tall. The little blue stem and needle grass types grow up to 4 feet high. In the Rocky Mountains, buffalo grass and blue grama grow between 4 and 18 inches tall. There are 23 species of plants per square yard in the grassland. The stems and leaves of all plants are made up of chloroplasts.

Fauna The prairie dog, barn owl, and gray wolf are some important animals found in the Grasslands. They all hunt and are active at night, which makes them nocturnal animals. The prairie dog has adapted to the grasslands by living in towns. The gray wolf survives in packs, and the barn owl makes its home in hollow trees, barns, belfries, and abandoned buildings. Lions live in groups on the grasslands, called Prides, and are the only cats that do this.