Grasslands & Prairies

Grasslands are dominated by a rich mix of grasses and forbs (non-grass plants); herbaceous and non-woody plants. They have low precipitation rates and are maintained by fire, which suppresses tree saplings.  This biome becomes prominent during the Miocene epoch (23-5 Mya) due to a cooling, drying climate on Earth. Grasslands have very fertile soil; therefore, they have been extensively converted to agriculture. When the soils of grasslands are compromised, these biomes frequently become deserts.  

Grasslands are sometimes also called a prairie, meadow, pasture, range, plain, steppe, pampas, sward, llano, or the veldt

Additional Resources

• Grasslands are vanishing nearly four times faster than forests (Chalmers Univ. of Technology 26Feb2026)

└Overlooked and overexploited: Extensive conversion of grasslands and wetlands driven by global food, feed, and bioenergy demand (Kan et al, 2026)

• The Mojave Desert is a hot spot for off-roading: Why a judge shut down more than 2,200 miles of trails (Phys.org 26Feb2026)

• Norway's species-rich grasslands in decline: New monitoring reveals alarming trends (Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research 16Feb2026)

• Intense sunlight reduces plant diversity and biomass across global grasslands (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences 9Feb2026)

└Intense solar radiation constrains plant species richness in global grasslands (Spohn et al., 2026)

• Shrubs curb carbon emissions in China's largest desert (Univ. of California-Roverside 26Jan2026)

└Human-induced biospheric carbon sink: Impact from the Taklamakan Afforestation Project (Noor et al., 2026)

• Meadows reveal unexpected monotony in insect biodiversity study (Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg 22Jan2026)

└Distance-decay reveals contrasting effects of land-use types on arthropod community homogenisation (Decker et al., 2026)

• A rare desert plant shows benefits of sustainability efforts at a large solar array in the Mojave Desert (Desert Research Institute 15Jan2026)

└Rare milkvetch (Astragalus) persistence at a utility-scale solar energy facility in the Mojave Desert (Pereira et al., 2025)

• Prairie strips can rapidly improve soil health (Phys.org 10Dec2025)

└Prairie strips improve many measures of soil health in nearly a decade (Dutter et al., 2025)

• Increasing plant diversity in agricultural grasslands boosts yields, reducing reliance on fertilizer (Phys.org 4Dec2025)

└Multispecies grasslands produce more yield from lower nitrogen inputs across a climatic gradient (O'Malley et al., 2025)

• What meadows reveal about the future: Spatial data can predict biodiversity loss before species disappear (Phys.org 26Nov2025)

└Congruent direction but different magnitude of biodiversity response to land-use intensification in space and time (Neuenkamp et al., 2025)

• Prescribed burning helps store forest carbon in big fire-resistant Sierra Nevada trees (Phys.org 17Nov2025)

└Carbon costs of different pathways for reducing fire hazard in the Sierra Nevada (Zhu et al., 2025)

• Two woody meadows planted a decade ago to see what would thrive. Now the concept is popular across Australia (The Conversation, 13Nov2025)

• Grassland degradation shifts biodiversity's role from plants to soil microbes (Phys.org 11Nov2025)

└Grassland degradation alters plant and soil biodiversity–multifunctionality relationships (Gao et al., 2025)

• Reviving South Africa’s grasslands: Eastern Cape villagers explain the challenges they face (The Conversation 17Sep2025)

• Bison herds 'reawaken' Yellowstone's prairies (Phys.org 31Aug2025)

└Geremia et al. (2025) Yellowstone's free moving large bison herds provide a glimpse of their past ecosystem function

• Grassland loss and woody plant encroachment drive decline of golden-shouldered parrot (Phys.org 24Jul2025)

└Crowley et al. (2025) Woody plant encroachment drives the decline of a grassland bird: The fate of golden-shouldered parrot (Psephotellus chrysopterygius) nests

• Nitrogen in forests and grasslands overestimated, new global analysis shows (Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies 16Jul2025)

└Ely (2025) Global terrestrial nitrogen fixation and its modification by agriculture

• Unexpectedly deep roots in plants unearth new questions about soil carbon storage (Phys.org 17Jun2025)

└Malhotra et al. (2025) Continental-scale relationships of fine root and soil carbon stocks hold in grasslands but not forests

• Long-term study reveals native seeding controls annual—but not perennial—invasive plants in sand grassland restoration (Phys.org 17Jun2025)

└Sáradi et al. (2025) Restorative seeding controls annual invasive species, but perennials can thrive in the long term despite treatments in sand grassland restoration

• Grassland ecosystems show abrupt changes when nitrogen fertilization exceeds key threshold (Phys.org 16Jun2025)

└Bagousse-Pinguet et al. (2025) Thresholds of functional trait diversity driven by land use intensification

• Invasive South African Gazania poses huge risk in Australia (Phys.org 4Jun2025)

└Adnan et al. (2025) Seeds of success: seed biology and germination response of Gazania weed in Australia

• Research shows how solar arrays can aid grasslands during drought (ScienceDaily 2Jun2025)

└Sturchio & Knapp (2025) Evidence of photovoltaic aridity mitigation in semi-arid grasslands. 

• Extreme drought can disrupt grassland stability, weakening dominant grasses' influence (Phys.org 27May2025)

└Luo et al. (2025) Extreme Drought Increases the Temporal Variability of Grassland Productivity by Suppressing Dominant Grasses

• Faced with drought, fertilizer helps grasslands grow strong (Phys.org 19May2025)

└Bondaruk et al. (2025) Aridity modulates grassland biomass responses to combined drought and nutrient addition

• Nutrient additions amplify grassland response to rainfall, study finds (Phys.org 17 Apr2025)

└Fay et al. (2025) Interactions among nutrients govern the global grassland biomass–precipitation relationship

• A long wait for pollinators: Restored grasslands need 75+ years for full biodiversity recovery, study finds (Phys.org 13Mar2025)

└Hirayama et al. (2025) Long-term management is required for the recovery of pollination networks and function in restored grasslands

• Grasslands are responding to climate change almost in real time, according to research (Phys.org 16Oct2024)

└Zhu et al. (2024) Rapid shifts in grassland communities driven by climate change

• Grassland study shows that elevated levels of CO₂ nearly tripled species losses attributed to nitrogen pollution (Phys.org 16Oct2024)

└Reich et al. (2024) High CO2 dampens then amplifies N-induced diversity loss over 24 years

• A rare orchid survives on a few tracts of prairie (Phys.org 24Aug2024)

• Danish grasslands are behaving strangely and researchers don't know why (Phys.org 21Feb2024)

└ Damgaard (2024) Decline in large-seeded species in Danish grasslands over an eight-year period

• Plant diversity stabilizes soil temperature (Phys.org 6Dec2023)

└Huang et al. (2023) Enhanced stability of grassland soil temperature by plant diversity

• Where the bison could roam (New York Times 10Jan2023)

• Reintroducing bison on tallgrass prairie doubles plant diversity (Successful Farming 1Sep2022)

• Reconstructing Two Centuries of Midwest Prairie Fire History (In Defense of Plants 28Nov2021)