Prairie

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This article is about the geography feature. For other uses of the word Prairie, see Prairie (disambiguation).

Prairie refers to an area of land in North America of low topographic relief that principally supports grasses and herbs, with few trees, and is generally of a mesic (moderate or temperate) climate. Most of the Great Plains, including the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, and much of Missouri and Minnesota, is considered prairie. French explorers called these areas prairie, from the French word for "meadow". Almost all of this area has been converted into farmland in the last two hundred years. Sometimes in the United States and Canada distinction is made between the shortgrass vegetation of the High Plains west of the 100th meridian and the tallgrass vegetation to the east from central Texas to Minnesota and southern Manitoba. When this distinction is made, it is common to limit the word "prairie" to the tallgrass area.

In Canada, the terms Prairie provinces and the Prairies refer to the western provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, where prairie grasslands and shrubs abound (see Canadian Prairies).

Fire is an important part of prairie ecology; natural and human induced fires were common in historic prairie areas. Grazing by animals such as the American Bison and Prairie dogs also helped maintain the original prairie ecology. Small areas of prairies also exist in eastern North America, and it is possible that these were created by Native Americans by periodic burning. One such area was along the southeastern shore of Lake Erie in what is now Pennsylvania and New York; another was between Seneca Lake and Cayuga Lake in present New York.

Image:Prairie grass.JPG Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type. Other temperate grasslands regions include the Pampas of Argentina, and the steppes of Russia and Ukraine.

Significant preserved areas of prairie include:

Virgin prairie refers to prairie land that has never been plowed. Small virgin prairies exist in the American Midwestern states and in Canada. Restored prairie has been reseeded after plowing or other disturbance.

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External links

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