Not only did grassland produce copious amounts of food, it removed carbon from the air into the soil and slowed climate change.
Terrestrial limestone grasslands similarly carry a much richer flora and fauna than do acidic grasslands [21], while in contrast, serpentine soils are toxic to many species and those that thrive in them are often strict endemics with traits that enhance the tolerance of this condition.
Not only do the grasslands provide a home for a diverse range of animals, from the black-tailed jackrabbit to the bald eagle, and more than 600 species of plants, but they are also integral to the production of fresh air, absorbing some 200 pounds of carbon dioxide per acre annually.
These results indicate that: (1) salt marsh bird communities show similar associations with habitat area and isolation as do forest, grassland, and freshwater wetland bird communities, and (2) landscape context mediates the influence of these parameters on the avian community and should be considered when defining the habitat requirements of salt marsh breeding birds.
Grasslands do not need chemical fertilisers or pesticides, particularly when they contain nitrogen-fixing clovers and deep-rooting herbs to tap soil mineral reserves.
Nitrate leaching can be reduced by the adoption of less intensive grassland systems which, though requiring a greater land area to achieve the same agricultural output, result in less nitrate leaching per unit of production than do intensively managed grasslands.
Policymakers have to make sure that efforts to protect forests or convert marginal farmland back into carbon-rich grasslands don't just spur deforestation or more intensive farming elsewhere.
Current agri-environmental schemes and subsidies for conservation and restoration of semi-natural grasslands do not explicitly assess land use changes affecting whole landscapes, but have so far focused on single objects and small areas.
Grasses, which includes wheat, maize, and rice, first occur in the Cretaceous, but grasslands do not spread worldwide until the middle and late Cenozoic (Strömberg 2011).
I assume it has to do with striped grassland predators.
