The central forest–grasslands transition is a
prairie ecoregion of the central
United States, an
ecotone between eastern forests and the
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
n
Great Plains
The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...
. It is a classification defined by the
World Wildlife Fund.
Setting
This is a large area covering from northern
Illinois through most of
Missouri, eastern
Kansas,
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
and into
Texas. This area was traditionally a mixture of woodland and
tall grass prairie
The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America. Historically, natural and anthropogenic fire, as well as grazing by large mammals (primarily bison) provided periodic disturbances to these ecosystems, limiting the encroac ...
, which as the soil consists of highly fertile
mollisols, most of the area has been converted to farmland. Rainfall varies from 600 to 1040 mm per year and the area is vulnerable to drought and fire. Along with the
Upper Midwest forest–savanna transition this ecoregion separates the
Central U.S. hardwood forests
The central U.S. hardwood forests comprise a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion in the Eastern United States, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund. It has one of the most diverse herbaceous plant floras of ecoregions in North Amer ...
to the east from the largely treeless
Central and Southern mixed grasslands
The Central Great Plains are a semiarid prairie ecoregion of the central United States, part of North American Great Plains. The region runs from west-central Texas through west-central Oklahoma, central Kansas, and south-central Nebraska.
...
and
Central tall grasslands
The Central tall grasslands are a prairie ecoregion of the Midwestern United States, part of the North American Great Plains.
Setting
This ecoeregion covers a large area of southern Minnesota, most of Iowa, and a narrow strip from the southeas ...
to the west.
Fauna
This ecoregion is rich in reptiles, birds and insects. Birds of the area include the
greater prairie chicken. Reptiles include the
Osage copperhead snake.
Threats and preservation
The area has almost entirely been converted to agriculture, particularly planting corn and soybeans. Remaining blocks of intact habitat are small and include the
Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge an important stopover for migrating birds located across the
Illinois River
The Illinois River ( mia, Inoka Siipiiwi) is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River and is approximately long. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, it has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins at the confluence of the D ...
from the town of
Havana in western Illinois. Other spots of unspoilt prairie occur in
Goose Lake Prairie State Natural Area,
Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie and the
Kankakee Outwash Plain Kankakee may refer to
Places
* Kankakee, Illinois
* Kankakee, Indiana
* Kankakee Community College
* Kankakee County, Illinois
* Kankakee River State Park
* Kankakee State Hospital
* Kankakee Valley High School
Geology
* Kankakee Arch
* Ka ...
in Illinois;
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in northwest Indiana; the
Cross Timbers in southern Kansas and central Oklahoma; and the
Osage Plains in the south of the ecoregion. However these are all highly fragmented although there are many protected areas in the ecoregion, for example,
Prairie State Park in Missouri, and there are also several small tall grass prairie reservations in
Cook County,
Illinois, including the
National Natural Landmark,
Gensburg-Markham Prairie
The Gensburg-Markham Prairie, also known as Markham Prairie, is a high-quality tallgrass prairie located in Markham in the Chicago metropolitan area. It is part of the larger Indian Boundary Prairies managed by Northeastern Illinois University a ...
.
[ hicago Wilderness Magazine, Summer 2000 http://www.chicagowildernessmag.org/issues/summer2000/gensburg.html/ref>
]
See also
* Oak savanna
* List of ecoregions in the United States (WWF)
References
External links
Central forest-grasslands transition
''Encyclopedia of Earth''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Central forest-grasslands transition
Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands in the United States
Ecoregions of the United States
*C
Nearctic ecoregions