New Research From The U.S. Forest Service Says The Great Plains Grasslands Are Maintained By Wind, Fire

Scientists still aren't sure what maintains the Great Plains Grasslands and keeps them separate from forests. A very common hypothesis is that there are climatic differences between the areas where each type of ecosystem forms. But the boundaries between the two ecosystems have been slowly disintegrating since around 1850, which caused a U.S. Forest Service research ecologist to wonder if something else was responsible for keeping them separate.
Scientists still aren't sure what maintains the Great Plains Grasslands and keeps them separate from forests. A very common hypothesis is that there are climatic differences between the areas where each type of ecosystem forms. But the boundaries between the two ecosystems have been slowly disintegrating since around 1850, which caused a U.S. Forest Service research ecologist to wonder if something else was responsible for keeping them separate.

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