Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica. Grasslands are found in most ecoregions of the Earth.
Types of Grasslands
Tropical and Subtropical
These grasslands are classified with tropical and subtropical savannas and shrublands. Notable tropical and subtropical grasslands include the Llanos grasslands (Venezuela) of South America.
Temperate
Mid-latitude grasslands, including the prairie and Pacific grasslands of North America, the Pampas of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, calcareous downland, and the steppes of Europe.
Temperate grasslands are the home to many large herbivores, such as bison, gazelles, zebras, rhinoceroses, and wild horses.
Flooded
Grasslands that are flooded seasonally or year-round, like the Everglades of Florida, the Pantanal of Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay or the Esteros del Ibera in Argentina, are classified with flooded savannas as the flooded grasslands and savannas biome and occur mostly in the tropics and subtropics.
Water meadows are grasslands that are deliberately flooded for short periods.
Montane
High-altitude grasslands located on high mountain ranges around the world, like the Páramo of the Andes Mountains. They are part of the montane grasslands and shrublands biome and also constitute tundra.
Tundra
Polar Arctic tundra can have grasses, but high soil moisture means that few tundras are grass-dominated today. However, during the Pleistocene ice ages, a polar grassland known as steppe-tundra occupied large areas of the Northern Hemisphere. These are in the tundra biome.
Desert and Xeric
Desert and Semi-arid regions including the Kalahari, East Sahara, Arabian peninsula, parts of Australian desert, parts of the Thar desert among others.
What is a veld?
The Veld is a type of wide open rural landscape in Southern Africa. Particularly, it is a flat area covered in grass or low scrub, especially in the countries of South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia.
What is the Bushveld?
The Bushveld is a sub-tropical woodland ecoregion of Southern Africa named after the term veld. It encompasses most of Limpopo Province and a small part of the North West Province of South Africa, the Central and North-East Districts of Botswana and the Matabeleland South and part of the Matabeleland North provinces of Zimbabwe.
What is the Cerrado?
Cerrado is a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil. The Cerrado biome core areas are the plateaus in the center of Brazil. The main habitat types of the Cerrado include: forest savanna, wooded savanna, park savanna and gramineous-woody savanna. Savanna wetlands and gallery forests are also included.
What is a meadow?
A meadow is a field habitat vegetated by plants grass and other non-woody plants (grassland).
They often host a multitude of wildlife, providing areas for courtship displays, nesting, food gathering and sometimes sheltering if the vegetation is high enough. Many meadows support a wide array of wildflowers, which makes them of utmost importance to insects like bees and other pollinating insects, and hence the entire ecosystem.
What is a flood meadow?
A flood-meadow (or floodmeadow) is an area of grassland or pasture beside a river, subject to seasonal flooding. Flood-meadows are distinct from water-meadows in that the latter are artificially created and maintained, with flooding controlled on a seasonal and even daily basis.
What are Pacific grasslands?
Grasslands around California and other states in the USA sharing the Pacific coast or in regions influenced by the Pacific ocean.
What are Pampas?
The Pampas are fertile South American lowlands, covering more than 750,000 km2 (289,577 sq mi), that include the Argentinea, most of Uruguay and the southernmost Brazilian State, Rio Grande do Sul. These vast plains are a natural region only interrupted by the low Ventana and Tandil hills near Argentina.
What are the Prairies?
Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome. These are together called Prairies in the USA. Longitudinally, almost 1/3rd of Central USA consists of Prairie (like the mid portion of the Italian flag).
What are the Savannahs?
A savanna or savannah is a grassland ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of grasses
Savannas maintain an open canopy despite a high tree density.
The term is used for grassland ecosystems across all continents.
Savanna ecoregions are of several different types:
Tropical and subtropical savannas are classified with tropical and subtropical grasslands and shrublands as the tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome. The savannas of Africa, including the Serengeti, famous for its wildlife, are typical of this type. The Brazilian savanna (Cerrado) is also included in this category, known for its exotic and varied flora.
Temperate savannas are mid-latitude savannas with wetter summers and drier winters. They are classified with temperate savannas and shrublands as the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome, that for example cover much of the Great Plains of the United States. (See areas such as the Central forest-grasslands transition).
Mediterranean savannas are mid-latitude savannas in Mediterranean climate regions, with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers, part of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. The oak tree savannas of California, part of the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion, fall into this category.
Flooded savannas are savannas that are flooded seasonally or year-round. They are classified with flooded savannas as the flooded grasslands and savannas biome, which occurs mostly in the tropics and subtropics.
Montane savannas are high-altitude savannas, located in a few spots around the world’s high mountain regions, part of the montane grasslands and shrublands biome. The lowland savannas of the Angolan Scarp savanna and woodlands ecoregion are an example.
What are the Steppes?
Steepes are an ecoregion, in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes, characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. The prairie (especially the shortgrass and mixed prairie) is an example of a steppe, though it is not usually called such.
It may be semi-desert, or covered with grass or shrubs or both, depending on the season and latitude. The term is also used to denote the climate encountered in regions too dry to support a forest, but not dry enough to be a desert.
The term is used in Eurasia.
Two types of steppe can be recorded:
- Temperate steppe: the “true” steppe, found in continental areas of the world; they can be further subdivided, as in the Rocky Mountains Steppes.
- Subtropical steppe: a similar association of plants that can be found in the driest areas with a Mediterranean-like climate; it usually has a short wet period.
Grasslands by Continent & the different names used
South America
Chile – Patagonian grasslands
Uruguay, Paraguay, South of Brazil – Pampas
Central South America, Argentina – Chacos (south of Brazilian Savannah)
Northwest of Brazil and Columbia – Amazonian Savannah
Much of Brazil and Brazil South-west – Brazilian-Parana Lowland Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna
North America
Californian – Meadows
Rest of Central US and West coast only – Grasslands in Central, Semi-desert off w.cost, desert scrub and grass bordering Mexico
Mexico – Desert scrub and Grasslands
Africa
Immediate South of N.Africa – Desert scrub and grassland followed by Woodland and Savannah
East Africa – Xeric scrub and grassland
South 1/3rd of Africa (North to South) – Dry woodland, Broadleaf woodland and South African Montane grassland
Europe and Asia
Scandinavia – Alpine vegetation
South of Mediterranean Sea – Mediterranean basin dry grassland
Western Eurasia – Grassland
Tibet – Central Asia Alpine scrub, Forb meadow and Grassland
Much of Eurasia on the Northern part – Mix of Alpine and Northern Eurasian Grassland and Shrubland
Australia
N.Australia – Tropical Savannah
NW.Australia – Semi-desert scrub and Grassland
South, SW and SCE Australia – Mediterranean Scrub
South East Australia – Temperate grassland and shrubland