Temperate Grassland/Cold desert

Cold Deserts

The two main types of cold deserts contain the coastal desert and cold desert.

Animal Adaptations

Human Impacts on temperate grasslands

• One of the main environmental concerns regarding temperate grasslands is the conversion of grassland to farmland.
• About 47 percent of temperate grasslands have been converted to agriculture or urban development.
• Lack of fire and fragmentation are also threats, as is past and present wildlife eradication.

Deer, different species of rats, squirrels, badgers and lizards have all adapted to the cold such as growing a full coat for winter then shedding it during summer or digging burrows for winter.

Animals such as rabbits and antelope find shelter during the warm afternoons.

Types of temperate grasslands

There are two types of temperate grasslands tall-grass prairies and short grass prairies.

the steppes from Ukraine eastward through Russia and Mongolia.

Soil Characteristic

• Mollisol is the soil that is found in temperate grasslands it is deep and dark and very fertile. The upper layers are the most fertile because of the buildup of many layers of dead branching stems and roots. This organic mater on the surface and in the dead roots provide a great degree of nourishment for the living plants.

The prairies of the Central Lowlands and High Plains of the US and Canada.

Cold deserts are found in places such as Greenland, Iran and Western China

Description

• Temperate grasslands are located north of the Tropic of Cancer and south of the Tropic of Capricorn.
• Temperate grasslands are composed of a rich mix of grasses and forbs and underlain by some of the world’s most fertile soils.
• Temperate grassland biomes have a semiarid climate and normally receive between 15 and 30 inches of precipitation per year. Temperate grasslands have hot summers and cold winters. Summer temperatures can be well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, while winter temperatures can be as low as -40 degrees Fahrenheit.

A cold desert is a desert plain characterized by cold, snowy winters and warm summers. Low precipitation is also another feature.

major temperate grasslands include the following:

Climate Diagram

Soil and Plants

Human Altered Impacts

type of plants

Porous soil that has salt and is heavy.

the pampas of Argentina, Uruguay, and southeastern Brazil

• The division of large rivers that provide water for cities
• Dams of large bodies of water that cause water supplies to dry up
• Road Construction
• Global warming increasing the air temperature.

With the salty soil, plants usually have spiny deciduous leaves. Examples of areas with salty soil include Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

• Perennial grasses dominate temperate grasslands, rarely Trees and large shrubs are found.
• Grasses survive because their growth point is very close to the ground and they are well-adapted to drought, fire, and cold
• Wildflowers also grow well in temperate grasslands. Popular flowers that you might find growing on grasslands are asters, blazing stars, goldenrods, sunflowers, clovers, and wild indigos.

the veld in the Republic of South Africa.

Purple needlegrass

wild indigo

Las Pampas of Argentina

Types of animals in temperate grasslands

• predators such as cheetahs, lions, wolves, coyotes and polecats live in temperate grasslands.
• predators help keep populations of grazing animals in check.
• Examples of Grazers that live here are buffalos, Antelopes, gazelles, zebras and rhinoceri.
• Some small mammals like mice,jack rabbits,Prairie dogs, ground squirrels and pocket gophers and some reptiles like garter snakes and rattlesnakes also inhibit the temperate grasslands.
• Temperate grassland animal populations are similar throughout the world due to a lack in shelter from predators. But some animals do burrow to hide from predators.

Temperate Grasslands/Cold Deserts

By: Sirsi Arauz & Juan Santana