Soil surface in dormant season

Cold temperate steppe: Low productivity makes providing adequate litter to protect the soil surface a challenge. Overrest is less of a problem in this type of environment, since accumulating enough standing forage to shade and weaken plants can take years.
 

Mild temperate steppe: As with the cold steppe, providing enough litter to protect the soil surface can be a challenge.
 

High rainfall tropical savanna: The huge bulk of organic material produced every year guarantees an abundant supply of litter-making material. It takes a lot of animal impact to knock down this much dead growth. If left standing, it would shade the resprouting grasses.