News tagged with grasslands
'Space ball' drops on Namibia
A large metallic ball fell out of the sky on a remote grassland in Namibia, prompting baffled authorities to contact NASA and the European space agency.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 22, 2011 |
4.1 / 5 (32) |
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Why the leopard got its spots
Why do leopards have rosette shaped markings but tigers have stripes? Rudyard Kipling suggested that it was because the leopard moved to an environment "full of trees and bushes and stripy, speckly, patchy-blatchy ...
Oct 20, 2010 |
4.7 / 5 (12) |
13
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Scientists urge halt to road through Serengeti
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have appealed for a halt to plans to build a road through the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania in 2012, saying it will be an environmental disaster.
Sep 17, 2010 |
3.6 / 5 (11) |
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Catastrophic drought looms for capital city of Bolivia
Catastrophic drought is on the near-term horizon for the capital city of Bolivia, according to new research into the historical ecology of the Andes.
Nov 12, 2010 |
4.5 / 5 (8) |
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Forest and savanna can switch quickly
(PhysOrg.com) -- Two recent studies have found that environmental changes can bring previously stable forests and grasslands to tipping points that produce sudden large-scale and sometimes irreversible changes ...
Oct 14, 2011 |
4.4 / 5 (8) |
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Lowly termite, not the lion or elephant, may be the star of Africa's savanna
The majestic animals most closely associated with the African savanna -- fierce lions, massive elephants, towering giraffes - may be relatively minor players when it comes to shaping the ecosystem.
May 25, 2010 |
5 / 5 (6) |
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Mesquite trees displacing Southwestern grasslands
As the desert Southwest becomes hotter and drier, semi-arid grasslands are slowly being replaced by a landscape dominated by mesquite trees, such as Prosopis velutina, and other woody shrubs, a team of University ...
Mar 18, 2012 |
4.8 / 5 (6) |
13
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Intensive land management leaves Europe without carbon sinks
A new calculation of Europe's greenhouse gas balance shows that emissions of methane and nitrous oxide tip the balance and eliminate Europe's terrestrial sink of greenhouse gases.
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 23, 2009 |
3.5 / 5 (8) |
0
Researchers find that rare lady beetles prefer traditional diet
(PhysOrg.com) -- Experts from South Dakota State University and the nearby North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory watched helplessly as a colony of rare, captive lady beetles was lost in 2008, then ...
Mar 19, 2010 |
4.4 / 5 (5) |
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What is war good for? Sparking civilization, suggest archaeology findings from Peru
Warfare, triggered by political conflict between the fifth century B.C. and the first century A.D., likely shaped the development of the first settlement that would classify as a civilization in the Titicaca basin of southern ...
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Jul 25, 2011 |
3.7 / 5 (6) |
8
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Changing climate will lead to devastating loss of phosphorus from soil
Crop growth, drinking water and recreational water sports could all be adversely affected if predicted changes in rainfall patterns over the coming years prove true, according to research published this month in Biology an ...
Apr 15, 2009 |
2.5 / 5 (8) |
3
Soil microbes accelerate global warming
More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes soil to release the potent greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide, new research published in this week's edition of Nature reveals. "This feedback to our changing atmosphere means ...
Jul 13, 2011 |
5 / 5 (4) |
4
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Overgrazed grasslands tied to locust outbreaks
While residents of the United States and much of Europe think of locust plagues as biblical references, locust swarms still have devastating effects on agriculture today, especially in developing countries ...
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (4) |
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Plants in cities are an underestimated carbon store
Vegetation in towns and cities can make a significant contribution to carbon storage and, ecologists say, could lock away even more carbon if local authorities and gardeners planted and maintained more trees. The study, published ...
Jul 11, 2011 |
4.8 / 5 (4) |
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Tree-planting world record set in Philippines
Philippine environmentalists have set a world record for the most trees planted simultaneously, kickstarting an enormous reforesteration programme, organisers said Thursday.
Feb 24, 2011 |
5 / 5 (3) |
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Grassland
Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae) and other herbaceous (non-woody) plants (forbs). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica. In temperate latitudes, such as northwestern Europe and the Great Plains and California in North America, native grasslands are dominated by perennial bunch grass species, whereas in warmer climates annual species form a greater component of the vegetation.
Grasslands are found in most ecoregion of the Earth. For example there are five terrestrial ecoregion classifications (subdivisions) of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome ('ecosystem'), which is one of eight terrestrial ecozones of the Earth's surface.
For more information about Grassland, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
