GrasslandsBy Bailey Kroll, Lindsay Allen, and Matthew Rockwell

Polar Grasslands - Arctic Tundra

Bailey Kroll

Basic OverviewPolar Grasslands - Arctic TundraAn polar grassland is a Biome located just south of the arctic polar ice cap. This biome is characterized by grasses, mosses, dwarf trees, and treeless plains. There are frigid winds, it is bitterly cold, ice and snow cover the ground most of the year. Winters are long and dark, and there is little precipitation. Parts of northern Europe, Asia (Siberia), North America (Alaska and Canada), and most of Greenland are all Polar Grasslands.

Temperature and Precipitation

The average annual temperature of the arctic tundra is 10-20 degrees Fahrenheit. For about six months out of the year, the temperature is below -30 degrees Fahrenheit. The annual precipitation of the polar grassland is very low - less than 10 inches per year.

Animals of the Arctic Tundra

Some specific animal species of the polar grasslands are:

arctic foxes,

caribou,

grey wolves,

snowy owl,

chipmunks,

squirrels, and

grizzly bears.

Plants of the Arctic The polar grassland is not home to tall trees, but rather short shrubs, cushion plants, roots, stems, bulbs, tubers, and lichen,which cover many rocks of the tundra. The reason plants don't grow tall is to retain water from the ground, and survive the incredibly cold winters. Also, some plants have leathery evergreen leaves coated by waxes that reduce heat loss.

Permafrost is a large environmental factor of the arctic tundra. Permafrost is a perennially frozen layer of the soil (subsoil) that is formed when the water there freezes. For example, in the Summer the topsoil ice layer melts, but the permafrost remains frozen

Polar Grasslands: Major Cities

Inuvik, Canada

Murmansk, Russia

Wainwright, Alaska in the U.S.

Eskifjordur, Iceland

Etah, Greenland

Conservation Issues of the Arctic Tundra/Polar GrasslandsIn the polar grasslands of Alaska, oil drilling is

very popular. This can be a major problem. An oil spill off the coast could cause detrimental effects to plants and animals of the arctic tundra biome.

Another issue of the polar grasslands is fishing. The commercial fishing is also very popular in the polar grasslands of Alaska. Because of this, fish populations can decrease unnaturally, and rapidly, affecting the entire community, environment, and biome.

Tropical GrasslandsMatthew Rockwell

Tropical Grassland Found in areas with high average temperature, low to moderate precipitation and a prolonged dry season.

Tropical grasslands are found primarily in Africa, South America and parts of India and Australia.

Major cities include Kano, Nigeria

Plants and animals of Tropical Grasslands

Typically have more trees than temperate grasslands.

Drought and fire resistant trees.

Many different types of grasses

Insect population is very high

A wide variety of animals like wildebeest, zebras, Gazelles cheetahs, lions, hyenas, vultures and more.

Conservation Issues A major conservation issue in African tropical grassland is poaching or over hunting of species like loins and zebras.

Other issues include farm plants escaping into the wild, and over farming.

Annual temperature and precipitation in

tropical grasslands.

Temperate Grasslands

Lindsay Allen

Temperate Grassland

Temperate grasslands cover vast expanses of plains and gently rolling hills throughout the interior of North and South America, Europe, and Asia.

Average Annual Temperature

Varying according to season, average temperatures can plummet to below 0 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter, to above 90 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer.

Average Annual Precipitation

Temperate grasslands receive low to moderate precipitation on average per year. It mostly averages around 20-35 inches per year. Most of this precipitation is in the form of snow in temperate grasslands of the northern hemisphere.

Dominant Plant Forms

50% of the plants in any grassland are grasses. The other half is made up of 'forbs'. Examples of 'forbs' are wildflowers, such as coneflowers.

SpeciesThe animals living in temperate grasslands have adapted to dry, windy conditions. It contains grazing animals such as gazelle and deer; burrowing animals such as mice and jack rabbits and predators like snakes and coyotes.

Major cities located in temperate grasslands

Denver

Omaha

Tulsa

Dallas

Ft. Worth

Calgary

Conservation IssuesGrasslands are the world’s most imperiled ecosystem.

5% of grasslands are protected through out the world.

Issues causing this include the spread of invasive species, the suppression of natural fires, and the fragmentation and urbanization of grassland habitat.

Temperate Climate Graph

Thematic Relationship:Grasslands

All three of these Biomes mentioned are grasslands: Polar, Tropical, and Temperate.

A grassland is characterized by long vast expanses of land containing few wood-plants, and mainly grasses and shrubs.

Grasslands have low humidity, and average rainfall is usually about 10-30 inches per year. Because of this low amount of precipitation in grasslands, there is a lot of competition between species, competing for water.

Grasslands cover about 20 percent of Earth's surface.

Thematic Relationship: Polar,

Tropical, and Temperate Grasslands

Although all these 3 types of grasslands are similar (as mentioned in the previous slide), there are some differences:

Latitudinal difference - Polar is very Northern, Temperate below that, and Tropical most southern. This difference causes temperature differences, Polar has colder temperatures than temperate or tropical, so specific plant and animal species inhabit each region. For example, you wouldn't find an arctic fox in the tropical grasslands of Africa, and you wouldn't see a zebra in the arctic tundra.

Thematic Relationship: Grasslands

Also, because of the latitudinal, temperature, differences, that changes the form of precipitation. Although there is generally the same amount of it, the state of it changes.

Polar - snow, ice almost year round.

Temperate - snow in winter, rain during the other parts of the year.

Tropical - rain

Thematic Relationship: GrasslandsIn conclusion, these three biomes are

similar in amount of precipitation, humidity, general plant type, behavior (competitive because of lack of water), type of precipitation (snow, ice, rain etc.), and general physical appearance. However because of latitudinal differences, there are some variations between the Polar, Tropical and Temperate grasslands.