Mongolian-Manchurian grassland
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The Mongolian-Manchurian grassland, also known as the Mongolian-Manchurian steppe, is a temperate grassland of Mongolia and northern China.
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[edit] Setting
The Mongolian-Manchurian grassland covers an area of 887,300 square kilometers (342,600 square miles). The ecoregion forms a large crescent around the Gobi Desert, extending across central and eastern Mongolia into the eastern portion of Inner Mongolia and eastern and centralManchuria, and then southwest across the North China Plain. To the northeast and north, the Selenge-Orkhon and Daurian forest steppes form a transition zone between the grassland and the forests of Siberia to the north. On the east and southeast, the grasslands transition to temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, including the Manchurian mixed forests, Northeast China Plain deciduous forests, and Central China loess plateau mixed forests. On the southwest, the grasslands extend to the Yellow River, across which is the Ordos Plateau steppe.
[edit] Flora
The dominant flora consists of of medium to tall grasslands, dominated by feather grass (Stipa baicalensis, S. capillata, and S. grandis), Sheep's Fescue (Festuca ovina), Aneurolepidium chinense, Filifolium sibiricuman, and Cleistogenes sqarrosa. The drier regions surrounding the Gobi host drought-tolerant grasses, together with forbs and low, spiny shrubs.
The southwestern slopes of the Da Hinggan range support pockets of broadleaf deciduous forest, of either Mongolian Oak (Quercus mongolica), or a mixture of poplar (Populus davidiana and P. suaveolens), Siberian Silver Birch (Betula platyphylla), and willow (Salix rorida).
[edit] Fauna
The Brown Eared-Pheasant (Crossoptilon mantchuricum) is the sole endemic bird in the ecoregion.
