The tallest vs the shortest vegetation on Earth
(writing in progress)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetation
TALLEST
Forest of Eucalyptus regnans
Tasmania
Vegetation height possibly 110 m
Foliage intensely flammable
Regeneration involves episodic resetting to zero height, via crown-consuming, explosive wildfire
(lifespan of dominant species about one century, with longevity only ?400 years)
OR
Forest of Sequoia sempervirens https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoia_sempervirens
Northern California
Vegetation height ?90 m
Foliage flammability ?
No resetting to zero? (lifespan of dominant species ?years, longevity about 2,000 years)
https://www.thelivingurn.com/blogs/news/84097921-fire-and-giant-sequoia-regeneration#:~:text=Sequoias%20rely%20on%20fire%20to,sunlight%20can%20reach%20young%20seedlings.
OR
Woodland of Sequoiadendrum giganteum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoiadendron_giganteum
California
Vegetation height ?75 m
Foliage flammability?
No resetting to zero
SHORTEST
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Steppe
OR
Short grassland of Sporobolus kentrophyllus (https://plants.jstor.org/compilation/sporobolus.kentrophyllus and https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.flora.ftea007403 and https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/species.php?species_id=105480) and Kyllinga nervosa (https://plants.jstor.org/compilation/kyllinga.nervosa)
Serengeti Plain
Vegetation height < 0.5 m
Fire permanently absent
Regeneration involves no temporal variation in height other than the reproductive heads of the graminoids
OR
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Free_State_Clay_Grassland
Comentarios
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20050925
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00377273
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28311277/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sporobolus
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/bf00390661
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28310241/
https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/j.1537-2197.1985.tb08287.x
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/weed-technology/article/abs/kyllinga-a-genus-of-neglected-weeds-in-the-continental-united-states/2253D75EFEB4C1A30538F6782CAFA5B6
shift
https://www.alamy.com/a-grants-gazelle-nanger-granti-looking-at-the-savannah-ndutu-ngorongoro-conservation-area-tanzania-image560618072.html?imageid=A7A6CBE5-AB75-4681-AF49-1A508A99299B&p=638512&pn=1&searchId=18225773dafaac82882a84d200480c58&searchtype=0
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/43177101.pdf
@tonyrebelo
Which is the shortest naturally-occurring grassland (dominated by perennials) in South Africa?
For comparison, the short grassland of the Serengeti Plain, in the strict sense, is uniformly <0.5 m high, with no stems emergent above this level, whether grass culms or scattered shrubs. It functions as a lawn, despite a) the graminoids not being strongly stoloniferous and b) the vegetation being green for only part of the year.
The answer will probably be one of the 'sweet grassveld' types at the edge of the Karoo, such as in western Free State (similar to https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/87331793).
However, I would not rule out grassland dominated by Stipagrostis obtusa in Northern Cape, particularly near Kenhardt.
Whatever the answer, the grasses will be small plants, similar to S. obtusa or Sporobolus ioclados.
What do you think?
https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.1042181/Arctic_Tussock_Sedge_Tundra_Alliance
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Vegetation-no-legend.PNG
Sorry: I dont know my grasslands at all.
The shortest grasslands I have seen have all been heavily overgrazed?
I dont know which ones are naturally short
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2022.878570/full
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aec.12200
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