VEGETATIONAL TYPES OF TEMPERATE LANDS 363 



Steppes there is often a broad ecotone, rather incongruously known 

 as ' forest steppe ', in which the two formations occur intermixed 

 in patches. 



3. The Argentinian and other South American pampas and 

 steppes, again developed chiefly on flat or gently undulating plains, 

 and with most of the general characters and range of variation of 

 the above. Quite frequently some low trees or tall shrubs give 

 these grasslands the aspect of savannas. 



4. The grasslands and savannas of South Africa and southern 

 Australasia — the grasslands being again closely comparable with the 

 northern steppes and prairies, whereas the savannas have also 

 scattered trees and or bushes. But although the dominant Grasses 

 tend to be of familiar forms and even genera, the woody plants are 

 very different in different regions, often including unique types 

 {e.g. in Australia). 



5. The subclimax meadows and other grasslands of various 

 temperate regions that except for biotic disturbance would support 

 vegetation of higher life-form. These probably include considerable 

 areas of present-day steppes and prairies especially towards their 

 forested margins, but are more notably represented by the verdant 

 meadows that form such a prominent feature of the dairy and other 

 pastured lands, for example, on either side of the North Atlantic. 

 Such meadows are typically due to clearance of the forests and 

 more or less long-continued mowing and, or pasturing by domestic 

 animals and wild herbivores such as Rabbits and Hares. This 

 favours the Grasses and other hemicryptophytes that dominate such 

 areas, so that they tend to form a continuous sward with closely- 

 compacted turf which represents a biotic plagioclimax in that it is 

 deflected from the normal succession. However, with removal or 

 reduction of normal grazing, woody plants soon enter the system 

 and the subsere proceeds towards the climax. Much the same 

 Grasses and forbs with buds hidden in the surface layer of soil are 

 protected against fire, which often helps to maintain grasslands, as 

 does the tendency of the turf to retain water. In meadows, the 

 dominant Grasses are usually broader-leafed and less xerophilous 

 than in climatic grasslands, although a wide range of often similar 

 types and even genera are involved. Meadows, moreover, tend to 

 support a wider variety and often greater admixture of forbs. Most 

 of the meadow inhabitants are more or less hygrophilous, lacking 

 marked protective devices reducing transpiration, and, although 

 their flowering-axes die down, many remain uninterruptedly green in 



