Life in the Fast Lane!

Open areas tend to form due to one or more of the following conditions:

• disturbances, such as fire, logging or farming (previously farmed land returning to nature)
• limited moisture
• poor soil quality - high sand or thin soil layer over rock

Grasses do well in these conditions because they are very tolerant of long exposure to bright sunlight and warm conditions, and they make very efficient use of moisture. Grasses tend to recycle nutrients in the soil more than forested areas. They also help prevent erosion by wind or water. Like icebergs, much of the mass of grass plants is often found below the surface; they are able to store food in their extensive root systems. This helps grasses survive periods of drought. Over time, grassy areas tend to develop deeper richer soils.

The type of grass that grows in a given area is affected by the amount of moisture that it will receive, the characteristics of the soil present at the time, the length of the growing season and the temperature (more heat means more evaporation and potentially less water available). Golf courses and lawns, of course, often operate outside of the constraints that affect natural grassy areas.

In eastern North America, the conditions that support open fields tend to be transient or localized, so even before human activity was an important factor in the equation, grasslands were intermittent and fragmented, unlike the "sea of grass" to the west.

Open areas also provide a home for:

• the largest North American squirrel, the groundhog
• birds such as bobolinks and meadowlarks
• small mammals such as mice

Prime Locations

• Walpole Island First Nation
• Bruce Peninsula
• Calf Pasture at Presqu'ile Provincial Park

Related Links

• A primer on native plant ecology Gardening
• Prairies in Ontario
• Tall Grass Ontario
• Species accounts for grasslands birds from the Breeding Bird Survey