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Deserts & Xeric Shrublands

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Ile Europa and Bassas da India xeric scrub

Biome

Deserts & Xeric Shrublands

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Règne biogéographique

Afrotropic

Filaos et touffes d'herbe sur le sable blanc des dunes côtières, île Europa, Terres australes françaises.

Photo de la région - fr:Utilisateur:B.navez / Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 3.0; attribution required.

Ile Europa and Bassas da India xeric scrub

Cette écorégion afrotropicale de désert et d'arbustaie xérique couvre deux petites îles coralliennes, Europa et Bassas da India, un territoire français d'outre-mer dispersé dans le canal du Mozambique, à environ un tiers du chemin entre le sud de Madagascar et le sud du Mozambique, les deux îles étant distantes d'une centaine de kilomètres. Le paysage bas d'Europa est revêtu d'une forêt sèche d'Euphorbia stenoclada, d'une formation herbacée de Sclerodactylon macrostachyum, d'une arbustaie côtière comprenant Suriana maritima et de mangroves de Rhizophora mucronata bordant un lagon peu profond ouvert sur la mer. Le climat est semi-aride et tropical, avec des étés humides et des hivers secs, dominé par les alizés de sud-est pendant l'hiver austral et par quelques cyclones occasionnels. Les îles sont un refuge d'importance internationale : Europa est l'un des plus grands sites de ponte de tortues vertes au monde et accueille une importante colonie de frégates du Pacifique ainsi que des lézards et des oiseaux marins endémiques, et la zone est protégée comme zone humide Ramsar. Pour les jardiniers, la flore indigène y est dominée par des Euphorbia succulentes tolérantes à la sécheresse et des genres côtiers tolérants au sel, adaptés à la chaleur et à de faibles précipitations.

RESOLVE 96

Afrotropic

8 sq mi

Deserts & Xeric Shrublands

Type de paysage

Deserts & Xeric Shrublands

Région végétale

Afrotropic

Empreinte de la région

8 sq mi

Pression sur l'habitat

Nature Imperiled (Dinerstein NNH 4)

Sourcing et entretien

Sponsorisé

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Utilisez ceci comme schéma général de plantation pour la région : Terres arides et semi-arides où de faibles précipitations erratiques et une forte évaporation limitent la végétation à des arbustes, des plantes succulentes et des graminées éparses adaptés à la sécheresse. Les écarts de température entre le jour et la nuit sont importants, et la vie est finement accordée à la rareté de l’eau. Pour vos décisions de jardin, affinez selon les contraintes de lumière, d'eau, de sol et de taille adulte de votre site.

°C

°F

Plantes adaptées à cette région

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Régions de plantation similaires

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Le lagon turquoise de l'atoll d'Aldabra à l'intérieur d'une couronne récifale assombrie par la broussaille, vu depuis un avion de passage, Seychelles.

RESOLVE 91 - Afrotropic

Aldabra Island xeric scrub

The Aldabra Island xeric scrub covers the coral atoll of Aldabra in the Seychelles, an isolated landform in the western Indian Ocean lying roughly 400 km northwest of Madagascar. Its xeric vegetation falls into two main types: dense thickets of Pemphis acidula on the saline, low-lying ground, and a mixed scrub of low trees, shrubs, herbs, and grasses spread across most of the atoll. The climate is tropical, with an average annual temperature near 27 degrees Celsius and about 1,200 mm of rainfall, split into a wetter season from November to April and a drier stretch from May to October. The terrestrial flora includes roughly nine fern species and 178 flowering plants, of which about 38 percent are thought to be endemic. Aldabra is best known for hosting the world's largest population of giant tortoises and the flightless Aldabra white-throated rail, and the atoll has been protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1982.

Deserts & Xeric Shrublands

RESOLVE 92 - Afrotropic

Djibouti xeric shrublands

The Djibouti xeric shrublands form a semi-desert belt along the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden coasts of the Horn of Africa, spanning Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia (including Somaliland) and encompassing the Afar Triangle, a lowland that drops as much as 160 metres below sea level at fault depressions such as the Danakil and Lac Assal. Vegetation grades from coastal mangroves into open grass and shrub steppe, with thorny acacias such as Acacia (Vachellia) tortilis and Senegalia mellifera, the spiny Rhigozum somalense, and the desert date Balanites aegyptiaca characteristic of the sandy plains and basaltic lava fields. The climate is extremely hot and arid, with mean annual rainfall ranging from under 100 millimetres near the coast to around 200 millimetres further inland, and the tectonically active rift includes some of the hottest sites in Africa. The ecoregion is notable for harboring the last viable population of the African wild ass alongside the endemic Archer's lark and the dragon tree Dracaena ombet, which clings to higher arid hills. For gardeners in hot, dry climates, several drought-adapted natives here-the architectural Dracaena dragon trees and tough Acacia and Balanites genera-are familiar xeric ornamentals.

Deserts & Xeric Shrublands

RESOLVE 93 - Afrotropic

Eritrean coastal desert

The Eritrean coastal desert is a narrow, arid strip running along the southern Red Sea coast of Eritrea and Djibouti, a flat sand-and-gravel plain lying below about 200 metres and broken by rocky outcrops. Vegetation is sparse herbaceous steppe dotted with scattered umbrella thorn (Acacia tortilis) and Acacia asak, alongside drought-hardy grasses such as Panicum turgidum, Cymbopogon schoenanthus, and Lasiurus scindicus, with halophytic plants and small mangrove stands in sheltered coastal creeks. The climate is extremely hot and dry, with annual rainfall averaging under 100 millimetres and highly variable from year to year, and minimum temperatures among the highest recorded anywhere in Africa. Despite the harsh setting, the region still supports Dorcas and Soemmerring's gazelles along with the diminutive Salt's dik-dik, and the adjacent Bab-el-Mandeb Strait channels one of the world's largest intercontinental raptor migrations each autumn, when hundreds of thousands of birds of prey cross from Arabia into Africa. For gardeners in hot, dry climates, the native umbrella thorn acacias and clumping desert grasses found here illustrate the kind of heat- and drought-tolerant planting the region naturally favours.

Deserts & Xeric Shrublands

RESOLVE 94 - Afrotropic

Gariep Karoo

The Gariep Karoo is an arid, open shrubland in the Afrotropic realm that stretches from the middle of South Africa's Northern Cape northward across the Orange River (also called the Gariep River, which forms the border between the Northern Cape and Namibia's ǁKaras Region) into southern Namibia. Its sparse, low-shrub vegetation is dominated by succulent dwarf shrubs and tall stem-succulents including quiver trees, with characteristic genera such as Drosanthemum, Eriocephalus, Galenia, Pentzia, Pteronia and Ruschia, alongside perennial grasses like Aristida and Stipagrostis. The climate is harsh, with mid-summer maximum temperatures exceeding 36 degrees Celsius, mid-winter minimums dropping below freezing, frequent droughts, and annual rainfall between 50 and 500 millimetres that decreases from east to west. The region holds the dramatic Fish River Canyon in southern Namibia and supports the ferruginous lark, its endemic flagship bird, yet it remains poorly protected against a 40 percent conservation target. For gardeners in dry climates, its drought-hardy natives such as quiver trees and succulent shrubs in the genera Ruschia and Drosanthemum are well suited to xeric, low-water plantings.

Deserts & Xeric Shrublands

RESOLVE 95 - Afrotropic

Hobyo grasslands and shrublands

The Hobyo grasslands and shrublands form a long, narrow coastal strip in Somalia, running along the Indian Ocean from south of Mogadishu northwards past the town of Hobyo, where a belt of wind-built dunes some 10 to 15 kilometers wide fringes the shore. The dunes carry distinctive grassland and low scrub: wind-tolerant grasses and sedges first colonize the bare sand, while denser thickets of Aerva javanica, Indigofera sparteola, and Jatropha pelargoniifolia hold the more stable ground. The climate is hot and dry, with rainfall concentrated in a short April-to-June season as the Intertropical Convergence Zone shifts north. Part of the Somali-Masai centre of plant endemism, the ecoregion shelters several species found nowhere else, including the silver dik-dik, the Somali golden mole, and the endemic Ash's lark and Obbia lark, yet it lies almost entirely outside any protected area. Gardeners working hot, sandy, low-water sites may recognize relatives of its native dune flora, such as the drought-hardy Aerva and Indigofera.

Deserts & Xeric Shrublands

RESOLVE 97 - Afrotropic

Kalahari xeric savanna

The Kalahari xeric savanna spans the sandy plains of the Kalahari Basin across northwestern South Africa, southern Botswana, and central-southeastern Namibia. Despite its name, it is an open, dry savanna where bunchgrasses such as Schmidtia, Stipagrostis, Aristida, and Eragrostis grow among scattered trees, most characteristically the camelthorn (Vachellia erioloba) and grey camelthorn (Vachellia haematoxylon), alongside shepherd's tree (Boscia albitrunca), blackthorn (Senegalia mellifera), and silver cluster-leaf (Terminalia sericea). The climate is harsh and continental, with patchy rainfall that rises from the dry southwest to the northeast and temperatures that can swing dramatically between cold nights and daytime highs above 40 degrees Celsius. Although plant endemism is low, the ecoregion supports a striking diversity of large mammals for such an arid system, including its flagship gemsbok along with lion, cheetah, leopard, and brown hyena. For gardeners in hot, dry climates, several of its hardy native woody plants, such as the camelthorn acacias and the shrub Grewia flava, are drought-adapted and grown ornamentally.

Deserts & Xeric Shrublands

Educator packet

Region packet

Ile Europa and Bassas da India xeric scrub educator packet

Cette écorégion afrotropicale de désert et d'arbustaie xérique couvre deux petites îles coralliennes, Europa et Bassas da India, un territoire français d'outre-mer dispersé dans le canal du Mozambique, à environ un tiers du chemin entre le sud de Madagascar et le sud du Mozambique, les deux îles étant distantes d'une centaine de kilomètres. Le paysage bas d'Europa est revêtu d'une forêt sèche d'Euphorbia stenoclada, d'une formation herbacée de Sclerodactylon macrostachyum, d'une arbustaie côtière comprenant Suriana maritima et de mangroves de Rhizophora mucronata bordant un lagon peu profond ouvert sur la mer. Le climat est semi-aride et tropical, avec des étés humides et des hivers secs, dominé par les alizés de sud-est pendant l'hiver austral et par quelques cyclones occasionnels. Les îles sont un refuge d'importance internationale : Europa est l'un des plus grands sites de ponte de tortues vertes au monde et accueille une importante colonie de frégates du Pacifique ainsi que des lézards et des oiseaux marins endémiques, et la zone est protégée comme zone humide Ramsar. Pour les jardiniers, la flore indigène y est dominée par des Euphorbia succulentes tolérantes à la sécheresse et des genres côtiers tolérants au sel, adaptés à la chaleur et à de faibles précipitations.

Realm

Afrotropic

Dominant biome

Deserts & Xeric Shrublands

Approximate area

8 square miles

States / provinces

Not recorded

Climate descriptor

Not recorded

Classroom prompts

- Which climate and biome facts explain why this region supports its characteristic plants?

- How do native-plant and wildlife-support claims differ from a species-presence claim?

- Which source-backed facts would you cite before using this region in a classroom map activity?

Use the Sources & citations section below for page citation styles and region source links.

Sources et citations

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Pour les plans de cours, articles ou notes de plantation régionales qui utilisent cette page Plotwright. Pour citer le cadre d'écorégions sous-jacent ou un profil éditorial spécifique, utilisez les fiches de sources ci-dessous.

Plotwright. (n.d.). Ile Europa and Bassas da India xeric scrub (Ile Europa and Bassas da India xeric scrub). Retrieved 2026, August 20, from https://plotwright.com/regions/resolve-96

Sources pour cette région

Cette page cite d'abord Plotwright pour la vue compilée, puis répertorie les pages sources du cadre, du climat et de l'éditorial en amont afin que les lecteurs puissent citer directement le matériel d'origine.

RESOLVE 2017 Terrestrial Ecoregions (Dinerstein et al.)

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