The Southeastern Grasslands Explorer: Grasslandia
Grasslandia is SGI’s name for our integrated database and tool for application in the field. Grasslandia will not only provide the most up-to-date information on our current native grasslands, but a portal to a see the Southeastern United States through the lens of grassland conservation.
Interdisciplinary Approach
SGI’s interdisciplinary approach helps tell a new story of the history of southeastern landscapes - a story that shifts the narrative in such a way that informs our cultural roots, land management practice, and transforms how we steward open ecosystems in the 21st century.
Grasslandia Portals
Map of the Carolinas from 1671.
history
The complex history of the Southeast provides the framework for understanding and conserving the region’s forgotten grasslands.
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Indigenous Peoples’ History
Euro-American History
African-American History
Archaeology
Maps & Place Names
Agriculture
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The History Explorer will allow for the search of historical quotes, maps, and other primary resources using key words on topics including animals, plants, water, ecosystems, grazing, culture, land change. Searches are also possible using an interactive ArcGIS mapping feature.
Corlee Thomas-Hill conducting a prescribed fire at Guthrie Prairie, KY. PC Jeremy French.
Restore & Manage
Increasing the pool of grassland ecosystems through sustainable, science-driven restoration & management is a top priority.
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To increase the amount of grassland habitat, SGI utilizes the following techniques:
Native Plant Reintroduction
Controlled Grazing
Prescribed Burning
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Grasslandia provides a hub for community members to join us at restoration and management activities at sites across our focal region.
Flanagan Prairie Natural Area. PC Craig Fraiser.
Biodiversity
Southeastern grasslands support highly diverse communities of living organisms, many of which are found only in open ecosystems.
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Grasslandia will host a map-based biodiversity explorer that will enable users to see grassland species in areas of interest.
Plants
Animals
Other Organisms
Soil Microbiome
Rare Species
Biogeography & Genetics
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Biodiversity keeps ecosystems resilient and productive. In Southeastern grasslands, every species—from wildflowers to pollinators—plays a vital role in maintaining balance, supporting food webs, and combating climate change.
Key traits of a thriving ecosystem include the following:
Richness
Evenness
Resilience
Image of prairie loss. PC Pam Pasco.
Threats
Defending our grasslands requires acknowledging the threats, and taking proactive steps to protect and restore these ecosystems.
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The following are significant threats to the health and return of our grassland ecosystems, defined in Grasslandia by degrees of severity, immediacy, and reversibility:
Urban Sprawl
Habitat Fragmentation
Loss of Ecosystem Processes
Loss of Megaherbivores
Invasive Species
Climate Change
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The loss of grasslands in the Southeast can lead to serious negative consequences to our communities. Major consequences include:
Species Extinction
Pollinator Collapse
Soil Erosion
Water Degradation
Saline barrens and savanna at Fort Chaffee. PC Theo Witsell.
grassland types
The open ecosystems of the Southeast are incredibly diverse in their structure, composition, and processes that maintain them.
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More than 150 subtypes of grasslands are now recognized, which can be split between 12 major types:
Prairies
Barrens
Glades
Balds
Savannas
Open Woodlands
Dunes
Riparian
Meadows
Bogs & Fens
Freshwater Marshes
Salt Marshes
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Grasslandia will host information on key differences between the main types of grasslands, including the following:
Size of grassland community
Average height of grasses and herbs
Degree of presence or absence of trees and shrubs
Drainage of soil & soil quality
Historic factors maintaining an open canopy including weather, fire, and animal disturbance
Fire scarred pine. PC Theo Witsell.
Science
Data-driven research reveals how soils, fire, and ecology shape resilient grassland ecosystems, and informs ongoing management.
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SGI’s experts research many aspects related to grasslands. We are always open to collaboration. The following research topics are current priorities and areas of staff expertise:
Soil Carbon
Ecology
New Species Description
History
Plant Inventory
Conservation Planning
Education & Outreach
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At SGI, we favor collaboration over competition. Our research is centered on the following:
Long-term Monitoring
Adaptive Management
Collaborative Research
Integrated data visualization through GIS
Image of the Advanced Tools on the Grasslandia History Explorer to search for grassland-related historical evidence by geography, date, author and keywords.
Grasslandia website visitors will be able to use multiple GIS maps and datasets to visualize grasslands across the Southeast. For example, our History Explorer too allows users to search for historical evidence pertaining to grasslands, including grassland animals, plants, waterways, ecosystems, grazing, culture, and land change. Users will also be able to overlay relevant maps onto the map showing the location of historical quotes, helping to visualize multiple layers of data together. Advanced tools will allow users to search for historical evidence of grasslands by date, geographic location, author, and keywords. Many places described in these historical contexts are no longer grasslands. However, now that we have this evidence, we can begin to identify lands that not only hosted open grassland ecosystems in the past, but that are great candidates for our grassland restoration program to reconstruct and restore into healthy grassland ecosystems today. Grasslandia’s portals will feature map explorer tools for each topic related to grassland conservation.
Image of the History Explorer in Grasslandia. Image shows a featured quote from Sumter County, Alabama prior to 1832 by Marylee Reynolds about the Choctaw nation agriculture in Alabama prairie lands.
Grassland benefits
Carbon Sequestration
Early studies show that the deep-rooted plants of southeastern grassland ecosystems can sequester more carbon than forests.
Biodiversity
Southeastern grassland ecosystems sustain an amazing number of species, many of which depend specifically on grassland habitats.
Workforce Development
Southeastern grasslands need workforce development training programs to prepare the next generation of conservation professionals.
Environmental Health
Healthy southeastern grasslands sustain biodiversity, resist soil erosion, and many are highly drought and flood tolerant.
Culture
Southeastern grasslands have significant cultural importance to Indigenous Americans. We want to bring back the bison.
Recreation
Southeastern grasslands provide a wealth of recreation opportunities and other benefits to human health.
Natural Heritage
The natural heritage of our southeastern grasslands informs our understanding of how open canopy landscapes came to be.
Clean Water
Southeastern grassland plant species filter water, making our environment safer for all life.
Future Applications of Grasslandia
Grasslandia is in it’s first version iteration. In the coming years, with more data compiled, we anticipate being able to predict and create immersive experiences in Grasslandia to re-envision what our open ecosystems of the Southeast looked like in the past, and how they could look in the future - with our help.
"Drop in" to points in Grasslandia to view the pre-settlement landscape (developed using a combination of vegetation modeling, artist reconstructions, and animation)
The Google Earth Street View image on left shows modern site. At right, artist reconstruction (painting by Philip Juras), shows what the site might have looked like in 1775.