Grassland Management

Front 1

Climatic Savanna

Back 1

Tropical grassland (savanna) maintained purely by the climate (hot, seasonal rainfall and fires)

Front 2

Edaphic Savanna

Back 2

Not entirely maintained by climate but also shallow or waterlogged soils

Front 3

Derived Savanna

Back 3

Areas of forest cleared for agriculture and then forgotten about.

Front 4

Temperate grassland

Back 4

An area dominated by grasses. Non-seasonal but less rainfall than savanna. Temperatures are lower and more varied. Drought and fires are still important but play a less dramatic transformative role. The soil is much more nutrient rich and is held together by lovely thick roots.

Front 5

Give 5 reasons why grasslands should be conserved and details.

Back 5

1)The market value of goods
2)Atmospheric maintenance
3)Genetic Library
4)Weather Services
5)Soil Services (cost)

Hint 5

1)Meat, milk, leather, tourism
2)Huge stores of carbon which is lost on conversion to agriculture (also nitrous oxide and methane)
3)New medicines/foods/disease resistance to wild pests and disease. Also has supports a huge number of mammalian species
4)Can have a large effect on rainfall patterns (e.g mexico border) Central plains in N. America are now warmer and wetter (better for pathogen transmission!!).
5) Overgrazing can lead to compact soil that has low levels of water penetration and therefore increased erosion. This can have onsite costs but even larger offsite costs.

Front 6

What management methods are there?

Back 6

1) Controlled fire (essential in the natural life cycle)
2)Grazing (controlled but this can be difficult; where do you put animals between seasons?
3)Mowing (remove nutrients and therefore increase diversity)

Front 7

Describe the process for Environmental Impact Assessment

Back 7

1)Screening
2)Scoping
3)Environmental impact preparation
-baseline studies
-Impact prediction
-Impact Significance
-Possible mitigation
4)Review and public consultation
5)Decision making
6) Monitoring (not required but good practice)