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.
Montane Grasslands and Shrublands Ecoregions
| Afrotropic ecozone |
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| Angolan montane forest-grassland mosaic | Angola |
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| Angolan scarp savanna and woodlands | Angola |
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| Drakensberg alti-montane grasslands and woodlands | Lesotho, South Africa |
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| Drakensberg montane grasslands, woodlands and forests | Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland |
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| East African montane moorlands | Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda |
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| Eastern Zimbabwe montane forest-grassland mosaic | Mozambique, Zimbabwe |
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| Ethiopian montane grasslands and woodlands | Ethiopia |
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| Ethiopian montane moorlands | Ethiopia |
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| Highveld grasslands | Lesotho, South Africa |
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| Jos Plateau forest-grassland mosaic | Nigeria |
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| Madagascar ericoid thickets | Madagascar |
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| Maputaland-Pondoland bushland and thickets | Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland |
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| Ruwenzori-Virunga montane moorlands | Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda |
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| South Malawi montane forest-grassland mosaic | Malawi, Mozambique |
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| Southern Rift montane forest-grassland mosaic | Malawi, Tanzania |
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| Australasia ecozone |
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| Australian Alps montane grasslands | Australia |
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| Central Range sub-alpine grasslands | Indonesia, Papua New Guinea |
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| Southland montane grasslands | New Zealand |
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| Indomalaya ecozone |
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| Kinabalu montane alpine meadows | Indonesia |
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| Neotropic ecozone |
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| Central Andean dry puna | Argentina, Bolivia, Chile |
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| Central Andean puna | Argentina, Bolivia, Peru |
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| Central Andean wet puna | Bolivia, Peru |
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| Cordillera Central páramo | Ecuador, Peru |
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| Cordillera de Merida páramo | Venezuela |
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| Northern Andean páramo | Colombia, Ecuador |
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| Santa Marta páramo | Colombia |
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| Southern Andean steppe | Argentina, Chile |
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| Zacatonal | Mexico |
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| Palearctic ecozone |
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| Altai alpine meadow and tundra | China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia |
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| Central Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe | China |
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| Eastern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows | Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal |
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| Ghorat-Hazarajat alpine meadow | Afghanistan |
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| Hindu Kush alpine meadow | Afghanistan, Pakistan |
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| Karakoram-West Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe | Afghanistan, China, India, Pakistan |
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| Khangai Mountains alpine meadow | Mongolia |
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| Kopet Dag woodlands and forest steppe | Iran, Turkmenistan |
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| Kuhrud-Kohbanan Mountains forest steppe | Iran |
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| Mediterranean High Atlas juniper steppe | Morocco |
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| North Tibetan Plateau-Kunlun Mountains alpine desert | China |
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| Northwestern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows | China, India, Pakistan |
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| Ordos Plateau steppe | China |
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| Pamir alpine desert and tundra | Afghanistan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan |
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| Qilian Mountains subalpine meadows | China |
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| Sayan Alpine meadows and tundra | Mongolia, Russia |
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| Southeast Tibet shrub and meadows | China |
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| Sulaiman Range alpine meadows | Afghanistan, Pakistan |
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| Tian Shan montane steppe and meadows | China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan |
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| Tibetan Plateau alpine shrub and meadows | China |
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| Western Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows | India, Nepal |
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| Yarlung Zambo arid steppe | China |
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Template:Terrestrial biomes
External link
more on this biome (http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/where_we_work/ecoregions/global200/pages/habitat/habitat10.htm)
