Biodiversity of Grasslands

Grasslands can be surprisingly diverse and contain many charismatic flora and fauna. Plant species are often combined into functional groups. Three major conceptual models: competitors-stress tolerants-ruderals (CSR); the leaf traits, plant height, seed mass (LHS); and R*, used to classify grassland species are described by the author. There are three distinct groups of mammalian herbivores based on the ways that herbivores harbor cellulose degrading microbes: hindgut fermentation, foregut fermentation, and foregut fermentation with rumination. Grasslands have a smaller number of bird species than forested systems, and the bird species that are endemic to grasslands tend to be specialized to open habitat (e.g., large flightless birds). Abundant insects can gathered into feeding groups. Single-celled organisms are important in grassland nutrient cycling and as mutualists and pathogens and are extremely abundant in soil. Soil pH is a strong predictor of bacterial diversity (as in plants), with diversity higher in neutral than in acidic soils.