Temperate+Grasslands+of+U.S.A.


 * General Information and Location:** The temperate grassland in the USA are rich in luscoiusness and life. This is the spot in the United States where the soil is the richest and where the most crops are grown and is vital to the United States economy. The temperate grasslands of the USA is in the yellow part in the Western part of this map, this region is otherwise known as the prairies and plains. Now that you know where it is you should know what it consists of.
 * Climate:** In the temperate grassland. It has cold winters and hot summers. It can be as cold as -40 degrees farenheight and as warm as over 100 degrees. It recieves 20-35 inches of precipitation and 10 inches of it comes as snow. The warm summers and plentiful preciptation creates a very good climate for growing crops.


 * Flora+Fauna:** The temperate grasslands of the United States of America have a diverse amount of species. One of the most popular species in the temperate grasslands is the prairie dog as seen at below . The other flora include bisons, deer, mice, owls, rattlesnakes, garter snakes, badgers, skunks, hawks, and much more but those are just a few examples of animal life in the Temperate Grasslands of America. The fauna are just as diverse as well. There are many types of grasses including buffalo grass, blue gamma grass, and johnson grass. Important cash crops include wheat, burley, and corn. There are also wild flowers and plants like goldenrod, vetches, and sweet clovers.

**Food Chain: (a few examples)** //Herbivores:// bison, deer, skunks, prarie dogs, jack rabbits //Omnivores: c//oyote, foxes, //Carnivores:// badgers, garter snakes, owls, rattlesnakes, and hawks. //Producers:// grasses, golden rod, blue gamma grass, sweet clovers


 * Population:** The animal's population I will be talking about is the prarie dog. Native to the temperate grasslands it was discovered in 1804 in the Lewis and Clark journey. At that time there was an estimated 5 billion prarie dogs in the grasslands! Since then the population has dropped a little over 98 % and they are pushing to become on the endangered species list. Reasons for this will be talked about in my next section.


 * Human Effect:** The humans definately have an effect in the temperate grasslands in the United States. Unfortunately, most is negative. Take for example the prarie dog, before human populatioin grew in gigantic numbers they were 98% more of them in the praries. The loss of open prarie due to growing farms in the midwest has helped to the decline of the prarie dog. Biologists have come to the conclusion that over 170 species rely on the prarie dog for many reasons. Therefore, humans are definately are putting a negative effect on flora.

http://mollprojects.com/innsbrook/photos/goldenrod-360x480.jpg http://www.runet.edu/~swoodwar/CLASSES/GEOG235/biomes/tempgrass/tempgras.html http://www.thewildclassroom.com/biomes/grasslands.html http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/biomes/grasslands.php#temp http://midwest.chicagofedblogs.org/archives/population/ http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/NorthAmerica/Facts/fact-pdog.cfm
 * Work Cited:**