The temperate grasslands

Abstract

The majority of the lands formerly covered by the temperate grasslands are now under cultivation or controlled grazing. Only the drier edges are comparatively little affected. It is true that there are reserves in North America, the USSR and Central Asia, some of considerable size, where the ecosystem comes close to its original nature, but even here the animal populations integral to the ecosystem have been much reduced. Consequently, it might be thought that the descriptions of the ecology of these lands are only of academic interest. However, in one important respect this is not so. Many of these lands have suffered in the past precisely because of the lack of this academic’ knowledge. Even if the species that composed the living part of the ecosystem have gone for ever, their shadow is still cast in the soil. Moreover, not only is ecological knowledge essential for the maintenance of the soil in good heart; the essential preservation of the genetic resources of the plant and animal species forms a reservoir for breeding, and a number of centres have been established for this purpose in the USA.