Map design by Adam P. Dixon Science & Innovation World Wildlife Fund - United States August 2014 1. a non-wetland formation; 2. at least 10% vascular vegetation canopy cover; 4. broad-leaved herbs (forbs) may have variable levels of cover and dominance; 3. graminoids have at least 25% (but if < 25% cover, graminoids exceed that of other herbaceous and shurb cover); 5. shurbs have < 25% canopy cover; 5. and trees: (i) temperate regions, trees typically have < 10% canopy cover, are <5 m tall and single-layered, (ii) or in tropical regions, trees typically have less than 40% canopy cover, are < 8 m tall, and single-layered. Unmapped North American Grasslands Vancouverian and Rocky Mountain Grassland & Shrubland Eastern North American Grassland, Meadow & Shrubland Western North America Interior Sclerophyllous Chaparral Shrubland Southeastern North American Grassland & Shrubland North American Boreal Grassland, Meadow & Shrubland Caribbean and Central American Montane Shrubland and Grassland Unmapped Oceana Grasslands Polynesian Montane Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna Eastern Melanesian Montane Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna Indomalayan Mesic Savanna and Grasslands Polynesian Lowland Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna Eastern Melanesian Lowland Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna Unmapped Eurasian Grasslands Mediterranean Basin Montane Grassland & Scrub European Grassland & Heath Indomalayan Mesic Savanna and Grasslands Polynesian Lowland Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna 1:35,000,000 National and international policy frameworks – such as the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive – increasingly seek to conserve and reference ‘highly biodiverse grasslands’. We propose a synthesized biogeographic methodology to characterize grassland types with the Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World (TEOW) – a spatial regionalization of the earth’s terrestrial biodiversity. We mapped forty-nine taxonomically distinct macroscale vegetation assemblages. Sixteen additional distinct but with limited extent grassland types are recognized, but unable to be mapped with our approach. Australia Warm Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland Australian Alpine Scrub, Forb Meadow& Grassland Australian Mediterranean Scrub Australian Temperate Grassland & Shrubland Australian Tropical Savanna Indomalayan Montane Meadow New Guinea Montane Meadow New Zealand Alpine Scrub, Forb Meadow & Grassland New Zealand Grassland & Shrubland Central Asian Alpine Scrub, Forb Meadow & Grassland Eastern Eurasian Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland Mediterranean Basin Dry Grassland European Alpine Vegetation Eurasian Boreal Grassland, Meadow & Shrubland Eastern Eurasian Grassland & Shrubland Northeast Asia Grassland & Shrubland Western Eurasian Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland Western Eurasian Grassland & Shrubland South African Cape Mediterranean Scrub West-Central African Mesic Woodland and Savanna Sudano Sahelian Dry Savanna Southern African Montane Grassland North Sahel Semi-Desert Scrub and Grassland Mopane Savanna Miombo and Associated Broadleaf Savanna Mediterranean Basin Dry Grassland Eastern and Southern African Dry Savanna & Woodland Eastern Africa Xeric Scrub and Grassland African Montane Grassland & Shrubland African (Madagascan) Montane Grassland and Shrubland Guianan Montane Shrubland and Grassland Brazilian-Parana Freshwater Marsh, Wet Meadow & Shrubland Guianan Lowland Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna Amazonian Shrubland & Savanna Colombian-Venezuelan Lowland Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna Pampean Grassland & Shrubland (semi-arid Pampa) Pampean Grassland & Shrubland Mediterranean and Southern Andean Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland Colombian-Venezuelan Freshwater Marsh, Wet Meadow & Shrubland Chaco Freshwater Marsh and Shrubland Brazilian-Parana Montane Shrubland and Grassland Brazilian-Parana Lowland Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna Patagonian Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland Patagonian Grassland and Shrubland Tropical Andean Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland Tropical Andean Shrubland & Grassland California Grassland & Meadow Great Plains Grassland & Shrubland North American Warm Desert Scrub & Grassland Western North American Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland Tropical Lowland Grassland, Shrubland & Savanna Tropical Montane Shrubland, Grassland & Savanna Temperate Grassland, Meadow & Shrubland Cool Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland Warm Semi-Desert Scrub & Grassland Alpine Scrub, Forb Meadow & Grassland Mediterranean Scrub, Grassland & Forb Meadow Tropical Freshwater Marsh, Wet Meadow & Shrubland Global Grasslands 13,151,600 km 2 8,104,830 km 2 5,661,110 km 2 3,030,720 km 2 3,005,020 km 2 1,594,750 km 2 591,357 km 2 465,015 km 246,322 km 2 2 Boreal Grassland, Meadow & Shrubland Dixon A.P., Faber-Langendoen, D., Josse, C., Morrison, J., Loucks, C.J. (2014) Distribution mapping of world grassland types. Journal of Biogeography, in press. Faber-Langendoen, D., Keeler-Wolf, T., Meidinger, D., Tart, D., Hoagland, B., Josse, C., Navarro, G., Ponomarenko, J.P.S., Weakley, A. & Comer, P. (2014) EcoVeg: a new approach to vegetation description and classification. Ecological Monographs, in press. Faber-Langendoen, D., Josse, C. (2010) World Grasslands and Biodiversity Patterns. NatureServe, Arlington, VA. Olson D.M., Dinerstein, E., Wikramanayake, E.D., Burgess, N.D., Powell, G.V.N., Underwood, E.C., D’Amico, J.A., Itoua, I., Strand, H.E., Morrison, J.C., Loucks, C.J., Allnutt, T.F., Ricketts, T.H., Kura, Y., Lamoreux, J.F., Wettengel, W.W., Hedao, P., Kassem, K.R. (2001) Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World. WWF-United States. Washington, DC.