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Wetter Grasslands
A study conducted by researchers from Stanford University and the Carnegie Institution of Washington in 2003 indicated that global warming makes grasslands wetter. According to the results of the experiment, which was executed on the grasslands near Stanford University, the increased heat causes many of the dominant blades of grass to die, and due to the diminished number of blades, the surviving grass absorbs a much larger proportion of water that was previously more evenly distributed. Thus global warming can kill numerous plant species that cannot adapt to the increased heat, and the grasslands that survive will be much wetter.
Lower Quality Grazing
A study reported by the Agricultural Research Service and Colorado State University scientists in 2007 revealed that a significant consequence of global warming is that the health and quality of grasslands can become diminished. The experiment tested the effects of rising carbon dioxide levels as well as the impact of rising temperatures on grasslands, and the results indicate that the environmental changes associated with global warming can cause lower nitrogen concentrations in forage grasses. Animals depend on vegetation that is rich in nitrogen to help facilitate digestion, and thus the lower quality of the grasslands can impair the performance, strength and health of grazing animals.
Grasslands Overtaking Forests
A dramatic affect of global warming on grasslands and on the planet's landscape is that the increased temperatures can enable grasslands to overtake forests, especially in the United States. A study reported by William Cocke of National Geographic News in 2008 demonstrated that when climates become more extreme due to global warming, the boundaries between ecosystems can shift. In the U.S., an "ecotone" marks the transition between grasslands and prairies in the west and forests in the east, and the boundary is clearly defined because the western climate is much more extreme as it varies between hot and cold and wet and dry throughout the course of a year. However, if global warming continues to generate extreme weather conditions, which is expected by most scientists, grasses would go dormant during lengthy droughts, would thrive after fire and would gradually shift east to exploit and take advantage of the habitat of trees. The grass would then most likely overtake the forests, for the trees would be incapable of competing for the scarce amount of resources and would be scorched and withered from wildfires.
Shrubs
Global warming can also cause a massive amount of shrub growth to develop between grasslands. The rising level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, is favorable to the growth of woody plants, but not grasslands. Studies have demonstrated that an excessive amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can cause grasses to grow up to a certain height and then transform into woody shrubs. Thus global warming can cause the grasslands to become covered up and blanketed by shrubs and bushes.