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Grasslands

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Abstract

Grassland can be described as a type of vegetation that is subjected to periodic drought, is dominated by grass and grass-like species, and grows where there are fewer than 10–15 trees per hectare. This definition is somewhat arbitrary and is one of several that may be used in discussion of grasslands and the area they cover. Different vernacular terms are used depending on the part of the world under consideration; thus grasslands may be called steppes in Eurasia, prairies in North America, llanos, cerrados or pampas in South America, savannas in Africa and rangelands in Australia.

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Brian Groombridge

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© 1992 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Groombridge, B. (1992). Grasslands. In: Groombridge, B. (eds) Global Biodiversity. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2282-5_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2282-5_21

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-5012-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-2282-5

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