This tundra ecoregion is scattered across the cold Southern Ocean south of New Zealand and Australia, gathering five remote island groups: the Bounty Islands, Auckland Islands, Antipodes Islands, and Campbell Island (New Zealand), plus Macquarie Island (Australia). Its windswept landscape is dominated by tussock grassland threaded with cushion plants and showy "megaherbs" such as Pleurophyllum and Stilbocarpa, while sheltered pockets of the Auckland Islands and Campbell Island hold some of the world's southernmost forests of southern rata (Metrosideros umbellata). The climate is harsh and relentlessly wet, with strong westerly winds and precipitation falling on more than 300 days a year. Despite low overall species richness, the isolation has driven notable endemism, and the islands shelter roughly half the world's albatross species along with vast penguin colonies and endemic land birds like the Antipodes parakeet. Gardeners may recognize the giant-flowered megaherb genera and the tree fern Cyathea among the flora native to these subantarctic islands.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 50.7°S, 166.1°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
11a-11b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
11b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +2.0°F by mid-century. SSP3-7.0 (current trajectory) · CHELSA v2.1 bio06 sampled across 3 of 10 points within this ecoregion's bounding box.
At a glance
Dominant biome
Tundra
Realm
Australasia
Approximate area
338 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Imperiled (Dinerstein NNH 4)
About the tundra biome
Treeless polar and high-mountain landscapes of low shrubs, sedges, mosses, and lichens, where cold and a short growing season cap plant height. Soils are frequently frozen as permafrost, and these systems recover only slowly from disturbance.
Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion
Computed from each plant's stated USDA zone range against this ecoregion's CHELSA-derived current zone range, with the CHELSA mid-century warming delta applied for the projection. Plants whose stated range falls outside both the current and projected zone end up dropped; the rest land in one of the three buckets below.
Climate-resilient picks · 52
These plants fit this ecoregion today AND remain in range under the mid-century SSP3-7.0 projection. Lead with these for a planting that holds up as the climate shifts.
No curated collection's plants all fit this ecoregion's zone range. We surface a collection only when every member would grow here — partial fits get filtered out rather than mislead. As the catalog and the curated set both grow, this section will fill in.