steppes

Reliefs-And-Ecosystems

2022

We explain what the steppes are and what the fauna and flora of this biome consist of. Also, how is its climate and its relationship with the prairie.

The steppes are home to small and thick forms of plant life.

What are the steppes?

A steppe is known as biome terrestrial (ecological zone or biotic area), away from seas and flat, whose soils dry due to low rainfall are rich in minerals and poor in organic material, being able to host forms of plant life of very little size and thickness. The steppes are usually considered cold deserts, contrary to the usual deserts warm and sandy.

The steppes are relatively abundant on our planet, in tropical, subtropical and temperate latitudes, and are distributed in our geography as follows:

  • Eurasian steppe. Known as The Great Steppe, it is located between the continents of Europe Y Asia, extending from Moldova in Eastern Europe to Siberia, northern Russia, through Ukraine and Hungary.
  • North American steppe. Known as The Great Plains, they are located from the Canadian south to the north of Mexico, crossing the states of Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming in the United States .
  • Subtropical steppe. Located in some regions close to the European Mediterranean, such as Sicilia (Italy), Zaragoza or Almería (Spain).
  • Puno steppe. Also called the Andean Desert, it is located in the heart of South America, uniting the north of Argentina and Chile with the Bolivian highlands. It is a high-altitude steppe, better considered as a highland plateau or high Andean tundra.
  • South African steppe. Known as the Veld, extended to the north and northeast of the country.
  • Patagonian steppe. Located in southern Argentina, in the region called Patagonia, which extends to the end of the southern cone of South America (Tierra del Fuego).

Steppe fauna

Herbivores tend to herd to resist hunting by predators.

The fauna of the steppes has adapted to the aridity of the region, as well as the vegetation on which it feeds. However, the biodiversity in these regions it is rather low, with few herbivorous species and those capable of burying themselves or digging tunnels, to escape adverse climatic conditions. Many predators of medium size they feed on them, being able to dig them up, or hunt them in the open, like birds of prey. Herbivores tend to make large herds to resist hunting by predators, since there is no vegetation or moutains to hide.

Some species Common in this biome are antelopes, eagles, wild horses, condors, rheas, Wolves, buffalo, marmots, wild rats, cranes, moles, and certain types of tortoise. Also numerous species of insects and arachnids, such as scorpions, beetles and ants.

Steppe flora

The flora of the steppes is small, with little foliage and little greenery.

The flora steppe has adapted to the scarce humidity from the ground, tending to be of the grass type (herbs, shrubs at most) or scrub, that is, of little size, little foliage and little greenery. Their deep roots allow them to search for better layers of the soil, and it is common to find rhizomatic species capable of storing Water in their tissues, just as in hot deserts.

Some common plant species in the steppe are cardón, rhubarb, poplars, cacti, cistus and various types of herbs, some capable of even resisting temperatures -20 ° C.

Steppe climate

The remoteness of large bodies of water makes the steppes dry, temperate regions, sometimes with rainfall less than 250mm per year. Its climates are extreme and of mid-latitudes, characterized by much thermal variation between day and night, and between summer and winter (a lot heat and very cold respectively).

Steppe and meadow

The name "prairie" is preferred in American terminology (prairie).

The terms steppe and prairie come to be more or less synonyms, given that it is in both cases of dry, temperate grasslands and shrubs, which share climatic characteristics and fauna and vegetation. However, the name "prairie" is preferred in American terminology (prairie). In other regions the name of pampas, pastures or bed sheets.

Steppe in Mexico

The Mexican grasslands, which is how the steppes are known locally, are part of the conglomerate of the North American Great Plains. They occupy 6.1% (118,320 km2) of the Mexican territory and extend over the states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora, Durango, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí and Jalisco, covering a good part of their territories.

Although they can be found at low altitudes, most are between 1,100 and 2,000 meters high, and have annual temperatures between 12 and 20 degrees Celsius, with annual rainfall between 300 and 600 mm per year. In some cases they present soils with a high abundance of gypsum, and in others they present a higher organic content, especially when they are found at the bottom of valleys and on the slopes of the hills.

Patagonian steppe

The Patagonian steppe covers almost the entirety of Santa Cruz, Chubut and Río Negro.

The steppes of Patagonia, also called semi-deserts, are huge flat expanses of southern Argentina, in an area close to 800 km2 that covers almost the entire territory of the provinces of Santa Cruz, Chubut and Río Negro.

It is a region of many biological endemisms, especially among fish and amphibians, despite the fact that the region was colonized during the nineteenth century with sheep and cattle, which constitutes the main mode of exploitation of the region, which is very sparsely populated. The extensive plain suggests the possibility of wind power.

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