| Habitat Overview |
This habitat includes species associated with the grass stage of secondary succession, as it occurs widely over the state. It also includes pastures, hayfields, and other managed grasslands that are composed of native species of grasses and associated forbs, along with their symbiotic herbivores and other native members of the grassland food web.
The grasslands included here are usually successional and hence transitory in our area. Under natural conditions, species found in these habitats are fugitive, colonizing species. Following Eurpean settlement, however, grasslands became managed for livestock production and became more persistent. Management practices originally involved periodic burning (as was done previously by Native Americans) or mowing, both of which were conducive to maintaining populations of native species. These species, however, are declining under current agricultural practices that are replacing native grasses with more intensively managed exotic species (see discussion of Threats and Trends below).
This particular habitat includes species that are found widely across the state, occurring extensively in at least two of the state's physiographic provinces. These successional and/or semi-natural grasslands intersect other, more naturally persistent grasslands, particularly those associated with glades, savannas, and beach dunes. Each of those habitats, however, have additional habitat factors, including those that keep the habitats open rather than closing in to forest. Their characteristic species are also, consequently, different and they are treated in separate habitat groups.
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| References |
Askins, R.A., Chávez-Ramírez, F., Dale, B.C., Haas, C.A., Herkert, J.R., Knopf, F.L. and Vickery, P.D., 2007. Conservation of grassland birds in North America: understanding ecological processes in different regions. Accessible online at: https://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=biofacpub
Rosenberg, K.V., A.M. Dokter, P.J. Blancher, J.R. Sauer, A.C. Smith, P.A. Smith, J.C. Stanton, A. Panjabi, L. Helft, M. Parr, P.P. Marra. 2019. Decline of the North American avifauna. Science. Published Online19 Sep 2019. DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw1313
Sharpe, T., 2010. Grassland Management. In: Tarheel wildlife-A guide for managing wildlife on private lands in North Carolilna. North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, Raleigh, North Carolina. Available online at: https://www.ncwildlife.org/Portals/0/Hunting/Documents/Tarheel_Wildlife.pdf |
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