Dormant season

Cold temperate steppe: Due to slow growth, recovery periods between grazings must be long -- up to several years in some cases -- to avoid grazing plants before they're fully recovered.
 

Mild temperate steppe: Though biological productivity is low and recovery periods must be long, grazers must eventually return or standing dead growth will shade the plants' growth points.
 

High rainfall tropical savanna: With such favorable conditions during the growing season, abundant plant material accumulates rapidly, and heavy rains create an algae-covered cap quickly on exposed soil. If those plants and soils aren't disturbed during the following dormant season, they are a major liability when the next growing season arrives. Here the area to left has been grazed at very high density; area to right has not. A one-strand electric fence separates them.