Montane grasslands and shrublands

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Montane grasslands and shrublands is biome defined by the World Wildlife Fund. The biome includes at high altitude (montane, subalpine, and alpine) grasslands and shrublands around the world.

Montane grasslands and shrublands, particularly in subtropical and tropical regions, often evolved as virtual islands, separated from other montane regions by warmer, lower elevation regions, and are frequently home to many distinctive and endemic plants.

Montane grasslands and shrublands located above the treeline are commonly known as alpine tundra, which occurs in mountain regions around the world. Below the treeline are subalpine and montane grasslands and shrublands. Stunted subalpine forests are known as krummholz, and occur just below the treeline, where harsh, windy conditions and poor soils create dwarfed and twisted forests of slow-growing trees.

In subtropical and tropical mountains, distinctive plant communities have evolved in response to the cool, wet climate with abundant sunlight, the most extensive of which is the Neotropic Paramo of the Andes Mountains. Characteristic plants of these habitats display adaptations such as rosette structures, waxy surfaces, and hairy leaves. In addition to the paramo, these conditions occur in the mountains of east and central Africa, Mount Kinabalu of Borneo, and the Central Highlands of New Guinea. A unique feature of many wet tropical montane regions is the presence of giant rosette plants from a variety of plant families, such as Lobelia (Afrotropic), Puya (Neotropic), Cyathea (New Guinea), and Argyroxiphium (Hawaii).

Where conditions are drier, one finds montane grasslands, savannas, and woodlands, like the Ethiopian Highlands, and montane steppes, like the steppes of the Tibetan Plateau.

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