We obsess over our lawns and rely on grass to play many of our favorite sports but apart from looking pretty and feeling nice to walk on, why does grass exist?

What is the Point of Grass?

The point of grass is to slow the erosion of soil and help prevent contamination of the environment by breaking down pollutants and purifying water as it passes through the root zone (the area of soil directly around the roots of plants).

Grass is actually much more important than you might think.

Despite it being so common that we don’t even think twice about it, it’s actually necessary for life to exist the way we know it.

Why Grass Exists

A field of long green grass

There are two reasons for grass: erosion control and soil health. Without grass, it can affect the quality of the soil pH and how things grow.

Without grass, we’d have issues with feeding our livestock and other animals too.

In fact, without grass, it can throw off the entire food chain, so it’s very important that we have grass to grow.

Grass provides a lot of food for many different animals, including us humans.

So without it, we’d be in fairly deep trouble.

Below is a more detailed explanation of why we have grass.

Grass Helps To Control Erosion

Grass is actually one of the best ways to control soil erosion.

Soil erosion happens over time, and this strips the nutrients out of the ground, making it hard to grow plants.

Without grass, the soil will continue to erode, breaking down over time.

Soil erosion can cause improper nutrient levels in the soil, and over time, it will get fully stripped of its properties and nutrients.

Soil that isn’t good for growing in will eventually become devoid of all life, and over time, animals will start to abandon that area.

Soil erosion is prevented by grass, but the grass should also be left to grow, and if you let it get larger, the nutrients stay, and it does play a part in the pH, which we will discuss later.

Grass can be seen as a barrier that protects the soil from completely breaking down.

Related Article: What Soil Is Best For Wheatgrass?

Grass Helps The Soil’s PH

The soil pH is something that can affect the growth of plants.

Our manicured lawns are actually more neutral than acidic, which means that it won’t grow plants as well.

In contrast, grass that is left to grow has fewer erosion issues and is ideal for growing.

Because of that, grass that’s left to grow is great for animals, including deer, birds of different types, and other animals too.

The right soil pH can affect the growth of plants, which ties into our ecosystem.

Grass Purifies Water And Helps To Prevent Contamination

The biology of grass makes it an effective medium for breaking down many types of environmental contamination.

Turfgrass helps to purify water as it drains through the root zone and soil microbes help to further break down harmful chemicals into harmless substances.

This, in turn, provides a healthy environment for all types of plant life to grow.

Grass And The Food Chain

Grass is at the bottom of our ecosystem and is used by many animals for food.

If an animal eats that, then of course another animal will eat the animal who eats the grass, and so on and so forth until you get to the top of the food chain.

The foragers around the bottom of the food chain mainly feast on grass.

In fact, about 3/4 of what they forage is this grass.

So, without grass, animals will go hungry over time.

Grass comes in many different types too, feeding a variety of different animals.

Bamboo, corn, or even bluegrass feeds an array of wildlife.

Think of it this way: if you don’t have grass for a small rodent to eat, then the snake can’t eat the rodent, and then the hawk can’t eat the snake.

If grass just disappeared one day, we may end up starving, since it’s vital to the food chain and vital to our growth.

Even grass that you see around in your lawn is vital too.

Worms feast on healthy soil, and the birds eat the worms.

It goes all the way up to us humans, and if there was no grass period, we could end up dying out as time went on.

Grass Is Extremely Important

Without grass, you could say goodbye to the growth of plants, animals, and of course, healthy soil.

Without it, the soil would soon go bad and would end up becoming dried out dirt, devoid of nutrients, and not good for the growth of all living things.

So yes, while grass may seem “common” it’s actually incredibly vital, and it goes all the way back down to the bottom of the food chain.

There’s such an abundance of grass that we sometimes take it for granted.

The point of grass is really to help support life and our ecosystem.

The next time you look at grass, take some time and think about how much it powers our world, and how grass is necessary for almost all types of life.