![]() ![]() Those plants in turn feed countless animals, from the critically endangered blue-eyed ground-dove to the lanky maned wolf. ![]() In just a quarter of an acre in the Cerrado, for example, scientists have recorded 230 species of plants. The tallgrass prairie of the Great Plains or the tropical savanna in the Cerrado of Brazil, by contrast, are natural grasslands full of life. All those inputs provide very little in return other than a bright patch of green. That’s to say nothing of the carbon pumped into the air by lawn equipment. Each year, Americans douse their lawns and gardens with almost 3 trillion gallons of water and, as of 2012, 59 million pounds of pesticides. Most lawns are resource-intensive monocultures of invasive plants. Don’t confuse grasslands with grassīy “grasslands,” I do not mean lawns. That’s why experts are calling for a reimagining of which ecosystems are important - and urging people to look beyond forests to humble blades of grass. ![]() And unlike forests, they have drawn little attention even within the conservation community, according to a recent article in Nature. Yet nearly half of the world’s grasslands are now degraded. “As we’re seeing increasing drought and increasing fire, we’re likely to rely on grasslands more because they’re a more resilient carbon sink,” said Elizabeth Borer, a grassland expert at the University of Minnesota. Grasslands along Highway 58 in California near Carrizo Plain National Monument. Grasslands harbor a diversity of species that rivals forests, and their deep root systems store carbon that won’t go up in smoke during a wildfire. But in our push to restock the world’s forests, we’ve largely ignored - and in some cases harmed - another important ecosystem that offers a similar set of benefits: grasslands.Ĭovering about 40 percent of the Earth, grasslands are sometimes considered little more than blank wastelands - but they’re anything but barren. Trees offer all kinds of benefits, from absorbing climate-warming emissions to providing refuge for animals, and we’re losing them at a blistering pace. First, the goal was 1 billion new trees worldwide. This dead material is an important source of food for the grazing animals throughout the winter.Sometime in our recent past, we became obsessed with planting trees. What remains is the dry carpet of grass that crunches underfoot. They grow best in high temperatures.īy winter, the surface portions of grasses have died and most of the plants' energy has been transferred to the root system. Warm-season grasses, such as blue grama, await the summer months. Cool-season grasses, such as needle-and-thread grass, grow well in the spring and fall when the temperatures are cooler and more water is available. In response to wide temperature fluctuations, grasses have evolved to cool- and warm-season species. When the photosynthesizing tissue is removed by grazing, the rate of photosynthesis within the uneaten tissue is increased. The growing parts are located at the base of the plant, so animals like bison do not kill the plant when grazing. This makes the leaves coarse and less palatable to grazers. Silica, a hard mineral found in soil, is incorporated into the plant’s cells. Grasses have also adapted to pressure from grazing. This helps build and hold soil and creates a food store that the plants use during winter or during droughts. More than half of their mass is below the ground, in the form of roots. Grasses are able to maximize their growth and production, even in constantly changing environments. Grass provides food and habitat for many species, and covers the prairie. But there is one type of organism that dominates the prairie-grass. With such an extreme environment, it is a wonder that anything can survive. ![]()
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