- Montane grasslands and shrublands
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Montane grasslands and shrublands is a biome defined by the World Wildlife Fund. The biome includes high altitude (montane, subalpine, and alpine) grasslands and shrublands around the world.
Montane grasslands and shrublands located above the tree line are commonly known as alpine tundra, which occurs in mountain regions around the world. Below the tree line are subalpine and montane grasslands and shrublands. Stunted subalpine forests are known as krummholz, and occur just below the tree line, where harsh, windy conditions and poor soils create dwarfed and twisted forests of slow-growing trees.
Montane grasslands and shrublands, particularly in subtropical and tropical regions, often evolved as virtual islands, separated from other montane regions by warmer, lower elevation regions, and are frequently home to many distinctive and endemic plants which evolved in response to the cool, wet climate and abundant tropical sunlight. Characteristic plants of these habitats display adaptations such as rosette structures, waxy surfaces, and hairy leaves. A unique feature of many wet tropical montane regions is the presence of giant rosette plants from a variety of plant families, such as Lobelia (Afrotropic), Puya (Neotropic), Cyathea (New Guinea), and Argyroxiphium (Hawaii).
The most extensive montane grasslands and shrublands occur in the Neotropic Paramo of the Andes Mountains. This biome also occurs in the mountains of east and central Africa, Mount Kinabalu of Borneo, highest elevations of the Western Ghats in South India and the Central Highlands of New Guinea.
Where conditions are drier, one finds montane grasslands, savannas, and woodlands, like the Ethiopian Highlands, and montane steppes, like the steppes of the Tibetan Plateau.
Montane grassland and shrubland ecoregions
Afrotropic Montane grasslands and shrublandsAngola Angolan Scarp savanna and woodlands Angola Drakensberg alti-montane grasslands and woodlands Lesotho, South Africa Drakensberg montane grasslands, woodlands and forests Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland East African montane moorlands Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda Eastern Zimbabwe montane forest-grassland mosaic Mozambique, Zimbabwe Ethiopian montane grasslands and woodlands Ethiopia, Sudan Ethiopian montane moorlands Ethiopia, Sudan Highveld grasslands Lesotho, South Africa Jos Plateau forest-grassland mosaic Nigeria Madagascar ericoid thickets Madagascar Maputaland-Pondoland bushland and thickets Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland Ruwenzori-Virunga montane moorlands Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda South Malawi montane forest-grassland mosaic Malawi, Mozambique Southern Rift montane forest-grassland mosaic Malawi, Tanzania Australasia Montane grasslands and shrublandsAustralian Alps montane grasslands Australia Central Range sub-alpine grasslands Indonesia, Papua New Guinea Southland montane grasslands New Zealand Indomalaya Montane grasslands and shrublandsMalaysia Central Andean puna Argentina, Bolivia, Peru Central Andean wet puna Bolivia, Peru Cordillera Central páramo Ecuador, Peru Cordillera de Merida páramo Venezuela Northern Andean páramo Colombia, Ecuador Santa Marta páramo Colombia Talamanca Paramo Costa Rica, Panama Southern Andean steppe Argentina, Chile Zacatonal Mexico, Guatemala Palearctic Montane grasslands and shrublandsChina, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia Central Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe China Eastern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows Bhutan, Burma, China, India, Nepal Ghorat-Hazarajat alpine meadow Afghanistan Hindu Kush alpine meadow Afghanistan, Pakistan Karakoram-West Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe Afghanistan, China, India, Pakistan Khangai Mountains alpine meadow Mongolia Kopet Dag woodlands and forest steppe Iran, Turkmenistan Kuhrud-Kohbanan Mountains forest steppe Iran Mediterranean High Atlas juniper steppe Morocco North Tibetan Plateau-Kunlun Mountains alpine desert China Northwestern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows China, India, Pakistan Ordos Plateau steppe China Pamir alpine desert and tundra Afghanistan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan Qilian Mountains subalpine meadows China Sayan Alpine meadows and tundra Mongolia, Russia Southeast Tibet shrub and meadows China Sulaiman Range alpine meadows Afghanistan, Pakistan Tian Shan montane steppe and meadows China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan Tibetan Plateau alpine shrub and meadows China Western Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows India, Nepal Yarlung Zambo arid steppe China Biomes and Ecozones Terrestrial
biomesPolar/montaneTemperate(Sub)tropicalDryWetAquatic
biomesOther biomes Ecozones See also
External links
Categories:- Montane grasslands and shrublands
- Montane ecology
- Grasslands
- Terrestrial biomes
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