Biology

Report
By:
Allyssa Jamela Macapa-ar
Danica Rose Macaraya
Khrysstyl Zyl Tabañag
TEMPERATE
GRASSLAND
Temperate Grassland
 Temperate grasslands
- composed of a rich mix of grasses and
forbs and underlain by some of the world's
most fertile soils. Since the development of
the steel plow most have been converted to
agricultural lands.
Type of Soil
 Calcification - the dominant soil-forming process
in semiarid regions.
 dark brown mollisols - developed under the
temperate grasslands and being typifies by mild
leaching, high organic content, and concentration
of calcium carbonate in the B horizon.
 chernozems (A Russian term meaning black soil)
– this world’s most fertile soils are created when
calcification works on a loess which is rich in
calcium.
Climate and Precipitation
 Semiarid, continental climates of the
middle latitudes (Koeppen's BSk climate
type) typically have between 10 and 20
inches of precipitation a year. Much of this
falls as snow, serving as reservoir of
moisture for the beginning of the growing
season. Warm to hot summers are
experienced, depending on latitude.
Locations
North America:
 the prairies of the Central Lowlands and
High Plains of the US and Canada
 The Palouse Prairie of eastern Washington
state
 the California grasslands
 the desert grasslands of the Southwest are
also temperate grasslands.
Eurasia:
 the steppes from Ukraine eastward through
Russia and Mongolia

South America:
 the pampas of Argentina and Uruguay

Africa:
 the veld in the Republic of South Africa
New Zealand
 The Canterbury Plains

Australia
 Murray-Darling Basin

Central Asia
 steppes
Geography
 Temperate grasslands can be divided into tall-
grass areas and short-grass areas. Tall grasses
that are taller than two metres are usually found in
wetter regions while short grasses that are shorter
than sixty centimetres can be found in drier
regions. The typical species of grasses are
Andropogon, Panicum and Stipa and some herbs
can be found between them. Trees are rare in the
temperate grasslands because there is not
enough moisture for them to grow as they have
longer life cycles and need longer growing season
than grasses.
Sources
http://www.radford.edu/~swoodwar/CLASSES/G

http://library.thinkquest.org/26634/grass/tempera