Andreyna G.

Ortiz

Sri Handayani Lestari (Celi)

Science 7C

14 February 2023

Grassland Essay

When people imagine a grassland, they think of grassy, flat fields, but is there more to it?

The answer is, yes, there is. Though it may seem unimportant, it lays importance to people and

animals. Grasslands provide a lot of natural resources and cattle, and herd farmers are heavily

reliant on grasslands. But because of overgrazing, grasslands have been degraded overtime and if

humans want to take care of the environment, they must look everywhere. Before they take care

of it, humans must learn further about it.

Grasslands are a biome dominated by grass with abundant areas of vegetation. An article

that states grasslands’ locations from National Geographic says, “Examples of temperate

grasslands include Eurasian steppes, North American prairies, and Argentine pampas”

(Nunez). Tropical grasslands include the hot savannas of sub-Saharan Africa and northern

Australia” (Nunez). This shows the general continental locations of grasslands as well as

narrowing and showing examples of types of grasslands in its two categories. It also shows the

readers a general image of tropical and temperate grasslands based on its locations. Another

statement from Nunez about animals in grasslands mentions, “Vegetation on the African

savannas, for example, feeds animals including zebras, wildebeest, gazelles, and giraffes. On

temperate grasslands, you might find prairie dogs, badgers, coyotes, swift foxes, and a variety of

birds” (Nunez). Adding on to this, it is also stated that animal plant-eaters benefit in grasslands
due to its variety of grass species, enabling them to choose from its said variety. Such grass

species found in grasslands are red oat grass, Rhodes grass, purple needlegrass, and galleta, and

the grass grows wildflowers such as yarrow, hyssop, and milkweed. Grasslands are important

because they can “regenerate” or grow back as many times as it’s consumed, they support all

kinds of wildlife, making it a diverse biome, and they have numerous resources.

The luscious locks of grasses in grasslands provide humans with vegetation resources, as

well as others beneath the grass. Starting off, an encyclopedic article about grasslands states,

“Grassland, area in which the vegetation is dominated by a nearly continuous cover of grasses”

(Smith), and another says, “providing higher supply with herbs for medicine, materials for

cosmetics and honey” (LIFE Viva Grass). The agriculture production of grasslands not only

benefits the animals within, but indirectly to humans as well, nurturing said animals that graze in

the fields of the grass, and the herbs that grasslands provide us are also resources. Another article

shows that the agriculture is not that’s all to it, saying, “…deposits of iron, nickel, mercury, and

uranium ores, tin, coal and limestone have been found in steppes and savannas. Petroleum and

natural gas in shale formations…” (Fuller). This statement conveys that not only does

agriculture provide for us, but minerals and gas as well. This goes without saying that the

natural gas provided by grasslands can help us more with our inefficient use of unnatural gas

in several industries. The question of how animals get vegetation is pretty obvious; humans

use them to graze fields as a pre-process to developing them into cooked meat, therefore

indirectly helping us as well, and the minerals are extracted for studies in order to study

grasslands more. Studying grasslands contributes to the food production, thus optimizing

vegetation.
 Humans have drastically impacted the grassland biome due to overgrazing and overuse

of fields. A National Geographic article says, “…most of the grasslands in the United States

have been converted into fields for crops or grazing land for cattle” (National Geographic

Society). Though the statement speaks for one specific country, the situation can happen in

almost all global grassland areas, and grassland conversion to fields or farms eradicates and

lessens the area and removes its initial and natural purpose in nature. Aside from overgrazing,

another article presents us with another problem, hunting, saying, “European settlers

devastated the American bison population which almost became extinct because of over

hunting for the fur and meat” (Carr). Although this again is a specified example, similar

situations happen with other animal species due to the human demand for their meat and skin.

However, negative impacts are not the only thing that humans do to grasslands, they also

impact them positively. Humans also preserve the land and restore grasslands. The U.S.

National Park Service specifically helps in preserving lands, especially grasslands. Just like

the U.S. National Park Service, it is believed that humans should help in preserving and

letting grasslands grow naturally as it is by supporting organizations that help in preserving

grasslands and laws that prevent such damage to be done. Such organizations like the WWF

helps the rhino species (Rhinocerotidae) to relocate in order for the rhinos to be protected.

This essay shows that the grassland biome is where grass takes over land with rich

areas of vegetation. Those fields of grasses yield humans with plentiful vegetation and even

minerals and natural gas. However, the beautiful grassland biome is negatively affected by

humans through overgrazing and excessive conversion to fields and farms as well as taking of

minerals. Excessive activity can hurt and drain the biome of its resources, therefore
potentially killing the grasslands. In conclusion, grasslands are just as important as any other

part in the environment, so people should learn about it and take care of it.

Works Cited

Brown, Tyson. “Grassland Biome | National Geographic Society.”

Education.nationalgeographic.org, 20 May 2022,

education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/grassland-biome/.

Carr, Kevin. “What Are the Impacts of Humans on Grassland Biomes?” Sciencing, 13 Mar.

2018, sciencing.com/impacts-humans-grassland-biomes-2594.html.

Dodd, Carly. “What Plants Grow in Grasslands?” WorldAtlas, 11 Oct. 2020,

www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-plants-grow-in-grasslands.html.

Fuller, Donna. “Natural Resources of the Grassland Biome.” Sciencing, 22 Nov. 2019,

sciencing.com/natural-resources-of-the-grassland-biome-12534175.html.

Geeks for Geeks. “Grasslands - Definition, Types, Functions, Importance.” GeeksforGeeks, 25

Apr. 2022, www.geeksforgeeks.org/grasslands-definition-types-functions-importance/.

Harness, Jill. “Names of Plants That Live in Grasslands.” Sciencing, 31 Mar. 2019,

sciencing.com/names-of-plants-that-live-in-grasslands-12418332.html.

Jeremy M.B. Smith. “Grassland | Definition, Animals, Plants, Types, & Facts.” Encyclopædia

Britannica, 5 Mar. 2019, www.britannica.com/science/grassland.

Lemaire, G. “Research Priorities for Grassland Science: The Need of Long Term Integrated

Experiments Networks.” Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia, vol. 36, no. suppl, July 2007,

pp. 93–100, https://doi.org/10.1590/s1516-35982007001000012. Accessed 3 Jan. 2023.

LIFE Viva Grass. “Ecosystem Services in Different Grasslands | LIFE Viva Grass.” LIFE Viva

Grass, vivagrass.eu/ecosystem-services/ecosystem-services-in-different-grasslands/.

Nunez, Christina. “Grasslands Explained | National Geographic Society.”

Education.nationalgeographic.org, 20 May 2022,

education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/grasslands-explained/.

Schlegel, P., et al. “Mineral Concentrations of Fresh Herbage from Mixed Grassland as

Influenced by Botanical Composition, Harvest Time and Growth Stage.” Animal Feed

Science and Technology, vol. 219, Sept. 2016, pp. 226–233,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2016.06.022. Accessed 25 Oct. 2022.

Wolters, Claire. “Grasslands Threats and Solutions, Facts and Information.” Environment, 22

Aug. 2019, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/grassland-threats.

WWF. “Grassland.” WWF, www.wwf.org.uk/where-we-work/grasslands.

---. “Rehoming Rhinos to Increase Breeding Populations.” WWF, www.wwf.org.uk/what-we-

do/projects/rehoming-rhinos-increase-breeding-populations.