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Individuals and Societies / Unit : What are the characteristics of natural…
Individuals and Societies / Unit : What are the characteristics of natural environments? Grassland / 11th March 2021 / Ahmad Nasser Kassem / 9M / Ms. Ahlam Zordok
Definition
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Climate and Location
Grasslands are generally located between deserts and forests, in the middle of huge continents. The major temperate grasslands are located in central North America in the United States, in Southeast South America in Uruguay and Argentina, and in Asia along the southern portion of Russia and Mongolia, and in Africa.
There is a large temperature range between this region’s cold winters and hot summers, as this region is far from the moderating effect of sea breezes (warming in winter, cooling in summer) because they are found inland. A great variety of temperatures may also occur in the same place within a single day. Temperatures may change by as much as 30 °C from day to night. However with total rainfall of between 250-500mm per year, this is a much wetter biome than a desert
Vegetation
Plants such as grasses, sunflowers, goldenrod, clover, wildflowers, acacia trees and cottonwood trees exist and adapt in grasslands.
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Grasslands are often located between deserts and rainforests so vegetation varies depending on how near the area is to the rainforest/desert.
The wet season: during this season the vegetation does all of it's growing and storing of water. The lush green glasses thrive due to the hot and wet conditions and reach heights of 3-4 meters before flowering and producing new seeds.
The dry season: it lasts for approximately 5 months depending on the area. There is very little rain in it, Many plants are xerophytic (drought resistant) to survive this season. Many vegetation have long roots to reach down to the water table and sustain itself when no water is available. The grasses turns yellow before dying.
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Wildlife
Animals that live in the grassland are animals such as wildebeest, gazelles, giraffes, prairie dogs, badgers, coyotes, swift foxes.
Animals in the wet season have plentiful of food but in the dry season finding food is challenging and many animals migrate huge distances to find food. It has carnivores and herbivores, so some animals feed on the plants like a zebra, while some animals feed on others like a lion.