Grasslands

Product Type: Book, Pages in

Year: 1998

Author(s): Samson, F.B., F.L. Knopf, and W. Ostlie

Suggested Citation:
Samson, F.B., F.L. Knopf, and W. Ostlie. 1998. Grasslands. In: Mac, M.J., P.A. Opler, C.E. Puckett Haecker, and P.D. Doran. Status and Trends of the Nation's Biological Resources. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Geological Survey. p. 437-4.

Abstract

Williams and Diebel 1996, Estes et al. 1982 contribute immense value to watersheds and provide forage and habitat for large numbers of domestic and wild animals. Nevertheless, current levels of erosion in North America exceed the prairie soil's capacity to tolerate sediment and nutrient loss, thus threatening a resource essential to sustain future generations (Sampson 1981). Added to this threat is the potential for overgrazing by livestock and for other human activities to reduce the social and aesthetic values of grasslands and to restrict the commodities that grasslands can produce (National Research Council 1994), and the likelihood that severe degradation may be irreversible.