Abstract
Fossil floras and mammalian faunas from the Great Plains indicate that as aridity increased during the Miocene and Pliocene, forests and woodlands were confined gradually to moister valleys as grassland spread on the interfluves which were covered earlier with park-like openings. The initial rise of extensive grasslands probably commenced in the Miocene-Pliocene transition (7-5 m.y. ago), the driest part of the Tertiary, which restricted forests and woodlands and encouraged the explosive evolution of grasses and forbs. Following the fluctuation of Pleistocene climatevegetation zones, warm, dry Altithermal climate restricted wooded tracts at the expense of spreading grasslands. The rise of the grassland biome was thus due to occasional periods of increased aridity that restricted forests and woodlands and favored grasses and forbs; to increasing drought west of the 100th meridian which created a flammable source (dry grass); to natural and man-made fires on the relatively flat plains over which fire could spread uninterruptedly; to fire that destroyed relict trees and groves on the flat grasslands, restricting them to rocky ridges removed from fire; and probably also to large browsing mammals (many now extinct) that may have destroyed scattered trees and shrubs on the interfluves during the Altithermal. Youthfulness of the grassland biome agrees with a) the occurrence of most of its species in the bordering forests and woodlands, b) the presence of few endemic plants in it, a relation shown also by insects and birds, c) the relict occurrence of diverse trees over the region, and d) the invasion of grassland by woody vegetation.
Résumé
Des fossiles de la flore et de la faune des Grandes Plaines montrent que quand l’aridité augmenta durant le miocène et le pliocène, les forêts et les bois se transformèrent petit-à-petit en vallées humides, ceci parce que les zones herbeuses se propagèrent à partir des intersections de fleuves qui étaient précedemment déboisées. L’augmentation initiale des zones herbeuses commença probablement lors de la transition entre le miocène et le pliocène (il y a 5 à 7 millions d’années), la période la plus sèche de l’époque tertiaire, laquelle empêcha le développement des forêts et des zones boisées et encouragea l’évolution explosive des zones herbeuses et de forbes. A la suite de la fluctuation des zones de climat-végétation du pleistocène, un climat chaud, sec et altithermal empêcha l’expansion des zones boisées en faveur des prairies. L’apparition du biome des prairies peut donc être attribué à des périodes occasionnelles d’aridité élevée qui empêcha le développement des forêts et des zones boisées et favorisa les zones herbeuses et les forbes; par une sécheresse accrue à l’ouest du 100e méridien, laquelle créa une source flammable (herbe sèche); par des feux naturels et humains dans les plaines relativement plates où le feu pouvait se répandre sans interruption; par des feux qui détruisirent les arbres isolés et les bosquets dans les prairies plates, les limitant seulement aux arêtes rocheuses à l’écart des feux; et probablement par les grands ruminants (beaucoup étant maintenant disparus) qui pouvaient détruire les arbres et buissons éparpillés le long des fleuves durant l’altithermal. La jeunesse du biome des prairies corrobore: a) la présence de la plupart de ces espèces dans les forêts et bois en bordure, b) la présence de quelques plantes endémiques dans ces bois et forêts—cette relation est également démontrée par les insectes et les oiseaux, c) la présence de divers arbres dans la région, et d) l’invasion des prairies par une végétation boisée.
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Axelrod, D.I. Rise of the grassland biome, central North America. Bot. Rev 51, 163–201 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02861083
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02861083