T4.5 Temperate subhumid grasslands

Biome: T4. Savannas and grasslands biome

Contributors:
(texts)

Temperate subhumid grasslands are simple in structure, composed of tussock grasses with scattered forbs, with few isolated trees and shrubs. Cold winters with occasional to frequent snow and frost limit the growing season, but hot dry summers create water stress. Nonetheless, fertile soils enable high productivity after rains, supporting a complex foodweb of invertebrates, ground-nesting birds, burrowing mammals, large herbivores, reptiles and predators. Large herbivores graze heavily, range widely, and are important in maintaining coexistence of plant species and nutrient cycling, as are periodic fires.

Key Features

Tussock grasslands with mixtures of C3 and C4 grasses and interstitial forbs, high productivity and complex trophic networks.

Overview of distribution

Temperate regions worldwide with summer water deficit, aseasonal precipitation that along with temperatures are lower than T4.4.

Profile versions

• v1.0 (2020-01-20): DA Keith; F Essl
• v2.0 (2020-05-31): DA Keith; F Essl; DJ Gibson
• v2.01 ():
• v2.1 (2022-04-06): DA Keith; F Essl; DJ Gibson Full profile available at official site

Main references

Selected references for this functional group:

• Gibson GJ (2009) Grasses and grassland ecology Oxford University Press, Oxford

Diagrammatic assembly model

Diagrammatic assembly model of T4.5 Temperate subhumid grasslands. See general notes on diagrams. Open image full size.

Maps

Maps are indicative of global distribution patterns are not intended to represent fine-scale patterns. The maps show areas of the world containing major (coloured red) or minor occurrences (coloured yellow) of each ecosystem functional group. See general notes on maps.

There are 2 alternative versions of the indicative map for this functional group, please compare description and sources below.

T4.5.IM.orig_v1.0

Datasets

• Resolve-Ecoregions-2017

Map references

• Dinerstein E, Olson D, Joshi A, Vynne C, Burgess ND, Wikramanayake E, Hahn N, Palminteri S, Hedao P, Noss R, Hansen M, Locke H, Ellis EE, Jones B, Barber CV, Hayes R, Kormos C, Martin V, Crist E, Sechrest W, Price L, Baillie JEM, Weeden D, Suckling K, Davis C, Sizer N, Moore R, Thau D, Birch T, Potapov P, Turubanova S, Tyukavina A, de Souza N, Pintea L, Brito JC, Llewellyn Barnekow Lillesø JP, van Breugel P, Graudal L, Voge M, Al-Shammari KF, Saleem M (2017) An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience 67: 534–545. DOI:10.1093/biosci/bix014. Data-set available on-line

T4.5.web.orig_v1.0

Terrestrial ecoregions containing major or minor occurrences of this ecosystem functional group were identified by consulting available ecoregion descriptions (Dinerstein et al. 2017), global and regional reviews, national and regional ecosystem maps, locations of relevant examples, and proofed by expert reviewers. Consequently they are coarse-scale indicative representations of distribution, except where they occupy small ecoregions. Ecoregions were mapped at 30 arc second spatial resolution. Open image full size.

Datasets

• Resolve-Ecoregions-2017

Map references

• Dinerstein E, Olson D, Joshi A, Vynne C, Burgess ND, Wikramanayake E, Hahn N, Palminteri S, Hedao P, Noss R, Hansen M, Locke H, Ellis EE, Jones B, Barber CV, Hayes R, Kormos C, Martin V, Crist E, Sechrest W, Price L, Baillie JEM, Weeden D, Suckling K, Davis C, Sizer N, Moore R, Thau D, Birch T, Potapov P, Turubanova S, Tyukavina A, de Souza N, Pintea L, Brito JC, Llewellyn Barnekow Lillesø JP, van Breugel P, Graudal L, Voge M, Al-Shammari KF, Saleem M (2017) An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience 67: 534–545. DOI:10.1093/biosci/bix014. Data-set available on-line

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