6. Lawns and meadows

What are lawns?

Have you ever wondered about what lawns actually are?

Lawns are pieces of land that have been flattened and planted with seeds from grass plants. These grass plants thrive when they are cut down. Together, the grasses form a beautiful, green lawn. 

Usually, a lawn contains only a couple of plant species, such as common meadow grass and red fescue.

Other plants that try to grow on the lawn are treated as weeds. Many people try to prevent these plants, such as mosses and dandelions, from growing on their lawns.

Because lawns contain a small number of plant species, they do not accommodate a large number of animal species.

What can you do on a lawn?

Because lawns are flat and their grasses are kept short, they are suited for playing various team sports, such as football.

Lawns are also good places for picnics and sunbathing. 

If you fall down when playing sports on a lawn, your clothes might show patches of green colour. This colour comes from the chlorophyll of plant leaves. Plants need chlorophyll in order to produce sugars from sunlight in photosynthesis.

The colour of chlorophyll can stay on fabric for a long time. Sometimes even washing the piece of clothing will not help.

Earthworms live on lawns

Lawns can seem like areas that accommodate almost no animals at all. At night, however, the lawns become full of life, when earthworms come up to the surface in search of food. 

Earthworms are decomposers. This means that they eat dead plant parts. 

Earthworms live in underground tunnels. They pull pieces of lawn grass in their underground holes and eat it in the safety of their tunnels. 

Earthworms are the food of many birds, especially thrushes. Because of this, thrushes can often be seen searching for them on lawns during the summer months.

Because earthworms spend the days under the ground, the thrushes cannot see them. However, the bird can use its sense of hearing to detect the movement of earthworms near the surface. This is why you can sometimes see thrushes stop in their tracks for long periods of time and tilting their heads. When they do this, they are listening for earthworms. Have you ever seen a thrush catch a worm on a lawn A thrush listening for an earthworm.

Meadows

If a lawn is not cut regularly, it will soon be full of all kinds of different plants. In a couple of years, they will take over the area completely from its original lawn grasses. When this happens, the lawn becomes a meadow.

Meadows are open, treeless areas where natural plants can grow freely. During the summer months, meadows are full of flowers of different colours. 

Dandelions, meadow buttercups and clovers are common meadow plants. These plants attract insects, such as bees, with their nectar. 


Horses, sheep and cows eat meadow plants and keep the vegetation low. 

Terminology

LAWNS AND MEADOWS
Term Explanation
lawn A piece of land where humans have planted grass plants. The grass of the lawn is cut regularly.
decomposer An animal that eats parts of dead plants or animals. 
meadow An open piece of land where natural plants can grow freely.