How Has the Temperate Grassland Biome Influenced the World Climate?

Grasslands cover much of the dry land on Earth and provide one of the most productive ecosystems for countless species. Temperate grasslands are also a major climate stabilizer and a key ecosystem for the global carbon cycle.

Coverage

• Temperate grasslands are so important partly because of their sheer coverage in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and parts of New Zealand and Australia. As a cumulative biome, or ecosystem archetype, grasslands receive large amounts of solar energy.

Carbon Sinks

• Too much carbon free in the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide will eventually cause climatic shifts. A carbon sink is a natural phenomena or technological process that sequesters carbon, usually from the atmosphere, into a stable form. All organic molecules use carbon as a primary element, so any living organism is a carbon sink, but plants pull carbon directly from the atmosphere. Trees are obvious sinks, as they stay in a solid form for years, but the huge expanses of grasslands are extremely significant carbon sinks.

Grass

• The grasses that give temperate grasslands their namesake are resilient and robust, able to return after harsh seasons and lack of rainfall because of their deep roots. This resilience is significant to the world climate. All ecosystems have a significant role in the cycling of global resources like water, nitrogen and carbon. Grasslands help stabilize climate conditions by rapidly absorbing and holding water, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and recycling nutrients locked in soils.

Desertification

• Despite the tough nature of grasslands, which often are able to flourish after drought periods or heavy grazing, there is a limit to their resilience. Large tracts of grasslands are giving way to desert environments as water and soil become depleted. Unbound, dry soils can cause huge problems in the short term, as in the American Dustbowl of the 1930s. In particularly dry areas of the world like Australia, grasslands are giving way to desert at a pace of many meters per year. Deserts serve an ecological niche as well, but they don't have the productive capacity and carbon sponge effect that grasslands exhibit.

Global Climate Perspective

• Temperate grasslands are a vital biome, but grasslands are one of many diverse biomes that cumulatively stabilize climate functions. Oceans, forests, tundra and even deserts have their purpose and affect the global and local climate in their own ways. If one ecosystem is severely depleted, the climatic shifts that may occur can in turn destabilize other ecosystems. Grasslands naturally give way to thicker vegetation in many areas, so if the grass buffers between arid desert regions and forests disappear, forested vegetation will also be impacted.