Steppe

In physical geography, a steppe (/stɛp/) is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes.[1]

Steppe biomes may include:

* the montane grasslands and shrublands biome
* the tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome
* the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome

A steppe is usually covered with grass and shrubs, depending on the season and latitude. The term steppe climate denotes a semi-arid climate, which is too dry to support a forest, but not dry enough to be a desert.[2][3]

Steppes are characterized by a semi-arid or continental climate. Temperature extremes can be recorded in the summer of up to 45 °C (115 °F) and in winter of down to −55 °C (−65 °F). Besides this major seasonal difference, fluctuations between day and night are also significant: in both the highlands of Mongolia and northern Nevada, 30 °C (85 °F) can be reached during the day with sub-freezing readings at night.

Steppes average 250–500 mm (10–20 in) of annual precipitation and feature hot summers and cold winters when located in mid-latitudes. In addition to the precipitation level, its combination with potential evapotranspiration defines a steppe climate.

## Contents

* 1 Classification
* 1.1 Cold steppe
* 1.2 Subtropical steppe
* 2 Human impact
* 3 Notable fauna
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 5.1 Sources
* 6 External links

## Classification

Steppe can be classified by climate:[4]

* Temperate steppe: the true steppe, found in continental climates can be further subdivided, as in the Rocky Mountains Steppes[4]
* Subtropical steppe: a similar association of plants occurring in the driest areas with a Mediterranean climate; it usually has a short wet period

It can also be classified by vegetation type, e.g. shrub-steppe and alpine-steppe.

### Cold steppe

The world's largest steppe region, often referred to as "the Great Steppe", is found in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, found in countries stretching from Ukraine in the west through Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to the Altai, Koppet Dag and Tian Shan ranges in China. The Eurasian Steppe had a significant role in the spread of the horse, the wheel and Indo-European languages.[5] In the Eurasian steppe, soils often consist of chernozem.

The inner parts of Anatolia in Turkey, Central Anatolia and East Anatolia in particular and also some parts of Southeast Anatolia, as well as much of Armenia and Iran are largely dominated by cold steppe.

The Pannonian Plain is another steppe region in Central Europe, centered in Hungary but also including portions of Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Austria. Another large steppe area (prairie) is located in the central United States, western Canada and the northern part of Mexico. The shortgrass prairie steppe is the westernmost part of the Great Plains region. The Columbia Plateau in southern British Columbia, Oregon, Idaho, and Washington state, is an example of a steppe region in North America outside of the Great Plains.

In South America, cold steppe can be found in Patagonia and much of the high elevation regions east of the southern Andes.

Relatively small steppe areas can be found in the interior of the South Island of New Zealand.

In Australia, a moderately sized temperate steppe region exists in the northern and northwest regions of Victoria, extending to the southern and mid regions of New South Wales. This area borders the semi-arid and arid Australian Outback which is found farther inland on the continent.

### Subtropical steppe

In Europe, some Mediterranean areas have a steppe-like vegetation, such as central Sicily in Italy, southern Portugal, parts of Greece in the southern Athens area,[6] and central-eastern Spain, especially the southeastern coast (around Murcia), and places cut off from adequate moisture due to rain shadow effects such as Zaragoza.

In northern Africa, the Mediterranean area also hosts the same steppe-like vegetation, such as the Algerian-Moroccan Hautes Plaines and by extension the North Saharan steppe and woodlands.

In Asia, a subtropical steppe can be found in semi-arid lands that fringe the Thar Desert of the Indian subcontinent as well as much of the Deccan Plateau in the rain shadow of the Western Ghats, and the Badia of the Levant.

In Australia, subtropical steppe can be found in a belt surrounding the most severe deserts of the continent and around the Musgrave Ranges.

In North America this environment is typical of transition areas between zones with a Mediterranean climate and true deserts, such as Reno, Nevada, the inner part of California, and much of western Texas and adjacent areas in Mexico.

## Human impact

Humans have severe impacts on their environments. Among many examples the following two give only an impression.

* The formation of the forest steppe of Eastern Europe in the fourth millennium BC appeared in the context of the Trypillia culture and very probably, the economy of this culture with its large settlements contributed to the process.[7]
* The formation of the Błędów Desert in Poland in the Middle Ages was certainly man-made.[8]

* Steppe in Mongolia

* Steppe in Kazakhstan

* Steppe in Russia

* Steppe in Hungary

* Cold Patagonian steppe near Fitz Roy, Argentina

* Prairie in Alberta, Canada

* Sagebrush steppe in northeastern Nevada (U.S. Route 93)

* Steppe in West Texas

## Notable fauna

## See also

* Mammoth steppe
* Grassland
* Plain
* Prairie
* Savanna
* Tugay
* Tundra

## References

1. ↑ Compare: Chibilyov, Alexander (2002). "Steppe and Forest-steppe". in Shahgedanova, Maria. The Physical Geography of Northern Eurasia. Oxford regional environments. 3 (reprint ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2003. p. 248. ISBN 978-0-19-823384-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=3VznhD-4A_IC. Retrieved 30 January 2020. "There are many definitions of steppes. For example, Allan (1946) provides fifty-four definitions of this term. Stamp and Clark (1979) define steppes as 'mid-latitude areas dominated by herbaceous vegetation and termed locally steppes, prairies, pampas, high veldts, downland, etc.'"
2. ↑ Costa, Daniel (2024). "Steppe". Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/steppe-grassland.
3. ↑ "Steppe". National Geographic. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/steppe/.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Ecoregions of the United States-Ecological Subregions of the United States". U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. https://www.fs.usda.gov/land/pubs/ecoregions/ecoregions.html.
5. ↑ Anthony, David W. (15 August 2010). The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World (reprint ed.). Princeton: Princeton University Press (published 2010). p. 240. ISBN 978-0-691-14818-2. https://books.google.com/books?id=nLIufwC4szwC. Retrieved 12 June 2022. "[...] the critical era when innovative Proto-Indo-European dialects began to spread across the steppes."
6. ↑ "Hellinikon". Greece: Hellenic National Meteorological Service. http://www.hnms.gr/hnms/english/climatology/climatology_region_diagrams_html?dr_city=Athens_Hellinikon&dr_region=ClimAttiki.
7. ↑ Kirleis, Wiebke; Corso, Marta Dal; Pashkevych, Galyna; Schlütz, Frank; Hofmann, Robert; Terna, Andreea; Dreibrodt, Stefan; Rud, Vitalii et al. (2024-01-01). "A complex subsistence regime revealed for Cucuteni–Trypillia sites in Chalcolithic eastern Europe based on new and old macrobotanical data" (in en). Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 33 (1): 75–90. doi:10.1007/s00334-023-00936-y. ISSN 1617-6278. Bibcode: 2024VegHA..33...75K.
8. ↑ "Ecology of a Mining Town: Evolution of Environment, Society and Economy from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern Period". https://www.roots-compass.org/welcome?project=23.

### Sources

* Ecology and Conservation of Steppe-land Birds by Manuel B.Morales, Santi Mañosa, Jordi Camprodón, Gerard Bota. International Symposium on Ecology and Conservation of steppe-land birds. Lleida, Spain. December 2004.ISBN 978-84-87334-99-3

| Look up  steppe in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

|

## External links

* "The Steppes". barramedasoft.com.ar. 1998–2008. http://www.barrameda.com.ar/ecology/the-steppes.htm.

* v
* t
* e

Phytogeography: Vegetation classification

Physiognomy|

* Forests, woodlands, arboretum
* Shrublands, scrubs, thickets, fruticetum
* Dwarf-shrubland, subshrublands, dwarf-scrubs, suffruticetum
* Herbaceous communities, grasslands, steppes, prairies, herbetum
* Savannas, parklands
* Scarcely vegetated areas, desert vegetation

Latitude|

* Tropical
* Subtropical
* Temperate
* Subpolar
* Polar

Climatic
regime|

* Pluvial, rainy, ombrophilous
* Cloudy
* Seasonal
* Drought

Altitude|

* Montane
* Submontane
* Lowland
* Coastal

Leaves|

* Loss of leaves
* Deciduous, caducifolious
* Semi-deciduous, semicaducifolious
* Evergreen, perennifolious
* Leaf hardness
* Sclerophyll, stiff leaves
* Orthophyll, hyptiophyll leaves
* Leaf form
* Aciculifolious, needle-leaved
* Latifolious, broad-leaved

Substrate|

* Terrestrial vegetation
* Aquatic vegetation
* Riparian
* Mangrove
* Swampy

See also|

* Biogeographic realms
* Biomes
* Floristic kingdoms
* Plant habits
* Plant life-forms
* Vegetation

* v
* t
* e

Earth's landform

List of landforms

Mountainous|

* Table
* Butte
* Flat
* Hill
* Mountain
* Mountain range
* Plateau
* Ridge
* Valley

Continental plain|

* Ice sheet
* Plain
* Steppe
* Tundra

Fluvial|

* Alluvial fan
* Beach
* Canyon
* Cave
* Channel
* Cliff
* Floodplain
* Lake
* Levee
* Meander
* Oasis
* Pond
* Rapids
* River
* River delta
* River mouth
* River valley
* Strait
* Swamp
* Waterfall

Glacial|

* Arête
* Cirque
* Esker
* Fjord
* Glacier
* Ice field
* Tunnel valley

Oceanic and
coastal landforms|

* Atoll
* Bay
* Cape
* Channel
* Coast
* Continental shelf
* Coral reef
* Estuary
* High island
* Island
* Isthmus
* Lagoon
* Mid-ocean ridge
* Oceanic trench
* Peninsula
* Seamount

Volcanic|

* Caldera
* Crater lake
* Geyser
* High island
* Mid-ocean ridge
* Lava dome
* Lava field
* Lava plateau
* Submarine volcano
* Guyot
* Volcanic crater
* Volcanic plug
* Volcano
* Wall rock

Aeolian|

* Desert
* Dry lake
* Dune
* Sandhill
* Tundra

Artificial|

* Artificial island
* Artificial reef
* Bridge
* Building
* Canal
* Dam
* Ditch
* Land reclamation
* Levee
* Polder
* Quarry
* Reservoir
* Road
* Tunnel

* See also: Geographical feature

* v
* t
* e

Biogeographic regionalisations

Biomes|

| Terrestrial
biomes|

| Polar/montane|

* Tundra
* Taiga
* Montane grasslands and shrublands

|

Temperate|

* Coniferous forests
* Broadleaf and mixed forests
* Deciduous forests
* Grasslands, savannas, and shrublands

Tropical and
subtropical|

* Coniferous forests
* Moist broadleaf forests
* Dry broadleaf forests
* Grasslands, savannas, and shrublands

Dry|

* Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
* Deserts and xeric shrublands

Wet|

* Flooded grasslands and savannas
* Riparian
* Wetland
* Mangrove

Aquatic
biomes|

* Pond
* Littoral
* Intertidal
* Mangroves
* Kelp forests
* Coral reefs
* Neritic zone
* Pelagic zone
* Benthic zone
* Hydrothermal vents
* Cold seeps
* Demersal zone

Other biomes|

* Endolithic zone

Biogeographic
realms|

| Terrestrial|

* Afrotropical
* Antarctic
* Australasian
* Indomalayan
* Nearctic
* Neotropical
* Oceanian
* Palearctic

|

Marine|

* Arctic
* Tropical Atlantic
* Central Indo-Pacific
* Western Indo-Pacific
* Temperate Northern Pacific
* Tropical Eastern Pacific
* Southern Ocean

Subdivisions|

* Biogeographic provinces
* Bioregions
* Ecoregions
* Lists of ecoregions
* Global 200 ecoregions

See also|

* Ecological land classification
* Floristic kingdoms
* Vegetation classifications
* Zoogeographic regions

0.00

(0 votes)

Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steppe. Read more

|

Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Earth:Steppe&oldid=4352315"
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template