Global Grasslands 465,015 km 2 246,322 km2 591,357 km2 1,594,750 km2 Unmapped North American Grasslands Vancouverian and Rocky Mountain Grassland & Shrubland Eastern North American Grassland, Meadow & Shrubland Western North America Interior Sclerophyllous Chaparral Shrubland Southeastern North American Grassland & Shrubland North American Boreal Grassland, Meadow & Shrubland Caribbean and Central American Montane Shrubland and Grassland 3,005,020 km 2 13,151,600 km2 National and international policy frameworks – such as the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive – increasingly seek to conserve and reference ‘highly biodiverse grasslands’. We propose a synthesized 3,030,720 km 2 biogeographic methodology to characterize grassland types with the Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World (TEOW) – a spatial regionalization of the earth’s terrestrial biodiversity. 5,661,110 km 2 California Grassland & Meadow 8,104,830 km 2 Western North American Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland We mapped forty-nine taxonomically distinct macroscale vegetation assemblages. Sixteen additional distinct but with limited extent grassland types are recognized, but unable to be mapped with our approach. North American Warm Desert Scrub & Grassland Great Plains Grassland & Shrubland Alpine Scrub, Forb Meadow & Grassland Tropical Freshwater Marsh, Wet Meadow & Shrubland Boreal Grassland, Meadow & Shrubland Mediterranean Scrub, Grassland & Forb Meadow Tropical Montane Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna Tropical Lowland Grassland, Shrubland & Savanna Warm Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland Temperate Grassland, Meadow & Shrubland Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland Eurasian Boreal Grassland, Meadow & Shrubland European Alpine Vegetation Western Eurasian Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland Mediterranean Basin Dry Grassland Eastern Eurasian Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland Western Eurasian Grassland & Shrubland Central Asian Alpine Scrub, Forb Meadow & Grassland Eastern Eurasian Grassland & Shrubland Northeast Asia Grassland & Shrubland Unmapped Eurasian Grasslands Mediterranean Basin Montane Grassland & Scrub European Grassland & Heath Indomalayan Mesic Savanna and Grasslands Polynesian Lowland Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna 1. a non-wetland formation; 2. at least 10% vascular vegetation canopy cover; 3. graminoids have at least 25% (but if < 25% cover, graminoids exceed that of other herbaceous and shurb cover); 4. broad-leaved herbs (forbs) may have variable levels of cover and dominance; 5. shurbs have < 25% canopy cover; 5. and trees: (i) temperate regions, trees typically have < 10% canopy cover, are <5 m tall and single-layered, (ii) or in tropical regions, trees typically have less than 40% canopy cover, are < 8 m tall, and single-layered. Unmapped Oceana Grasslands Polynesian Montane Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna Eastern Melanesian Montane Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna Indomalayan Mesic Savanna and Grasslands Polynesian Lowland Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna Eastern Melanesian Lowland Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna New Zealand Alpine Scrub, Forb Meadow & Grassland Australian Alpine Scrub, Forb Meadow& Grassland New Zealand Grassland & Shrubland Colombian-Venezuelan Lowland Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna Australian Temperate Grassland & Shrubland Guianan Lowland Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna Amazonian Shrubland & Savanna Brazilian-Parana Lowland Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna South African Cape Mediterranean Scrub Australian Tropical Savanna Mediterranean Basin Dry Grassland Australia Warm Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland North Sahel Semi-Desert Scrub and Grassland Colombian-Venezuelan Freshwater Marsh, Wet Meadow & Shrubland West-Central African Mesic Woodland and Savanna Brazilian-Parana Freshwater Marsh, Wet Meadow & Shrubland Eastern and Southern African Dry Savanna & Woodland Chaco Freshwater Marsh and Shrubland Miombo and Associated Broadleaf Savanna Sudano Sahelian Dry Savanna Guianan Montane Shrubland and Grassland Mopane Savanna Brazilian-Parana Montane Shrubland and Grassland Tropical Andean Shrubland & Grassland Eastern Africa Xeric Scrub and Grassland Tropical Andean Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland African Montane Grassland & Shrubland Patagonian Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland African (Madagascan) Montane Grassland and Shrubland Pampean Grassland & Shrubland (semi-arid Pampa) Southern African Montane Grassland Mediterranean and Southern Andean Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland Pampean Grassland & Shrubland Patagonian Grassland and Shrubland Dixon A.P., Faber-Langendoen, D., Josse, C., Morrison, J., Loucks, C.J. (2014) Distribution mapping of world grassland types. Journal of Biogeography, in press. Faber-Langendoen, D., Keeler-Wolf, T., Meidinger, D., Tart, D., Hoagland, B., Josse, C., Navarro, G., Ponomarenko, J.P.S., Weakley, A. & Comer, P. (2014) EcoVeg: a new approach to vegetation description and classification. Ecological Monographs, in press. Faber-Langendoen, D., Josse, C. (2010) World Grasslands and Biodiversity Patterns. NatureServe, Arlington, VA. Olson D.M., Dinerstein, E., Wikramanayake, E.D., Burgess, N.D., Powell, G.V.N., Underwood, E.C., D’Amico, J.A., Itoua, I., Strand, H.E., Morrison, J.C., Loucks, C.J., Allnutt, T.F., Ricketts, T.H., Kura, Y., Lamoreux, J.F., Wettengel, W.W., Hedao, P., Kassem, K.R. (2001) Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World. WWF-United States. Washington, DC. Map design by Adam P. Dixon Science & Innovation World Wildlife Fund - United States August 2014 1:35,000,000 Australian Mediterranean Scrub New Guinea Montane Meadow Indomalayan Montane Meadow
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