Grasslands

Grasslands are areas of land that are dominated by one or more forms of grass, which is a family of plants that also includes cereals. Grasslands are one of the most common forms of land cover of the nonsubmerged land of the world. The intensification of agriculture in many parts of the world has significantly increased the proportion of land that is considered grassland. Natural grasslands are less prevalent, but still extensive, and have formed in areas in which climatic conditions in terms of water resources are not so beneficial as to permit the creation of forests, but are not so harsh as to lead to the formation of deserts.

The most important grassland areas are the steppe lands of central Asia and southern Russia, extending ...