State of Biome (Topic 7 & 8)
The temperate grasslands biome occupies 9 million sq.km or about 8% of the Earth’s terrestrial surface. But only 3.4% of the 8% are currently protected within the global system of protected areas.The two greatest threats to temperate grasslands are overgrazing by livestock and plowing. Since the development of the steel plow, these grasslands have been converted to agricultural lands because of their rich soil. About 47 percent of temperate grasslands have been converted to agriculture or urban development. Plowing of grasslands, combined with wind has lead to huge dust storms (like the Great Dust Bowl in the American Depression of the mid 1920s). In dryer areas, overgrazing and salt build-up from irrigation of the land have turned these areas into near-wastelands.Other threats consist of lack of fire and fragmentation and past and present wildlife eradication (including the bison slaughter of the 1800s and ongoing prairie dog poisoning in North America’s plains). Indigenous temperate grasslands are considered the most altered biome and the Earth's most endangered ecosystem. In some places, national parks are set up to preserve the grasslands. In other places, grasses are replanted where land has been cleared for farming. Increasing awareness is necessary in protecting the grassland biome.