Meadow
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225841383
2008-07-15T17:26:41Z
SimpleJYouTube
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[[WP:UNDO|Undid]] revision 225841256 by [[Special:Contributions/SimpleJYouTube|SimpleJYouTube]] ([[User talk:SimpleJYouTube|talk]])
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[[Image:BerneseAlps.JPG|thumb|Meadow near [[Grindelwald]] in the [[Swiss Alps]]]]
[[Image:Bovill-id-us-camas-field.png|thumb|[[Camassia quamash|Quamash]] meadow near [[Bovill, Idaho]]]]
[[Image:Santagadea.JPG|thumb|[[Coast|Coastal meadow]] at the [[Bay of Biscay]] near [[Tapia de Casariego]], [[Spain]]]]
[[Image:Flood-meadow near Hohenau.jpg|thumb|[[Flood-meadow]] near [[Hohenau an der March]], [[Austria]]]]
A '''meadow''' is a field vegetated primarily by [[grass]] and other non-[[woody plants]]. It may be cut for [[hay]] or [[grazing|grazed]] by [[livestock]] such as [[cattle]], [[sheep]] or [[goat]]s.
==Agricultural meadow==
Especially in the [[United Kingdom]], the term meadow is commonly used in its original sense to mean a haymeadow – grassland mown annually for [[hay]] ([[Old English language|Old English]] ''mædwe''). "[[Pasture]]" is used in contrast for land which is primarily grazed, which may include grassland ("grass pasture"), but also includes non-grassland habitats such as [[heathland]], [[moorland]] and [[wood pasture]]. "Grassland" is used to include both meadow and grass pasture.
==Transitional meadows==
A transitional meadow occurs when a [[Field (agriculture)|field]], [[pasture]], [[Farmland (farming)|farmland]], or other cleared land is no longer [[farming|farmed]] or heavily [[grazing|grazed]] and starts to overgrow. Once meadow conditions are achieved, however, the condition is only temporary because the early colonizers will be shaded out when [[woody plant]]s become well-established.
In [[North America]] prior to [[European people|European]] [[colonization]], [[Algonquian peoples|Algonquian]], [[Iroquois]] and other [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] people regularly cleared areas of forest to create transitional meadows where [[deer]] could find [[nutrition]] and be [[deer hunting|hunted]]. Many places named "[[Deerfield]]" are located at sites where [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] once practised this form of [[land management]].
==Perpetual meadow ==
A perpetual meadow is one in which environmental factors restrict the growth of woody plants indefinitely. For example:
*[[Alpine meadow]]s occur at high elevations and are maintained by harsh climatic conditions
*[[coast|Coastal meadows]] are maintained by [[seawater|salt sprays]]
*[[desert|Desert meadows]] are restricted by low [[Precipitation (meteorology)|precipitation]]
*[[Prairies]] are maintained by periods of severe [[drought]] and are subject to [[wildfires]]
*[[Wet meadow]]s are semi-[[wetland]] areas saturated with water throughout much of the year.
==See also==
*[[Coastal plain]]
*[[Field (agriculture)|Field]]
*[[Flooded grasslands and savannas]]
*[[Flood-meadow]]
*[[Grassland]]
*[[Pampa]]
*[[Pasture]]
*[[Plain]]
*[[Plateau]]
*[[Prairie]]
*[[Rangeland]]
*[[Savanna]]
*[[Sods]]
*[[Steppe]]
*[[Tundra]]
*[[Water-meadow]]
*[[Wet meadow]]
*[[Veld]]
==References==
*[http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/Suffolk/grownet/flowers/meadow.htm Cornell University]
*[http://www.azcentral.com/home/garden/articles/0513gardening13.html The Washington Post, "Today, 32,000 seedlings; tomorrow, a meadow"]
==External links==
{{Commonscat|Meadows}}
*[http://www.wildmeadows.org.uk UK Wild Meadows Website]
*[http://www.floralocale.org Flora locale - information on creating wildflower meadows]
*[http://www.meadowscape.co.uk/online/meadow/meadow_planting.htm Meadow Planting]
*[http://www.sankey.ws/scyear.html A Year in a Meadow] (Ottawa Canada)
*[http://www.sankey.ws/meadow.html Grow a Back Yard Meadow] (Ottawa Canada)
[[Category:Grasslands]]
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[[mk:Ливада]]
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