The Daurian Forest Steppe is a transboundary mosaic of grassland, shrub terrain, and mixed forest spanning northeastern Mongolia, southern Siberia in Russia, and northeastern China, following the courses of the Onon and Ulz rivers across the Palearctic realm. North-facing mountain slopes carry forests of Siberian larch (Larix sibirica) intermixed with Asian black birch (Betula dahurica), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), and aspen groves, while the open country forms grass- and sedge-dominated steppe between enclosed basins holding freshwater and slightly saline lakes. The climate is a dry-winter subarctic type (Koppen Dwc) grading into a very cold semi-arid climate in the southwest, with cold winters, warm summers, and precipitation concentrated in the May-to-September growing season. The region is celebrated for its birdlife: it is one of the few places where six crane species, including the white-naped and demoiselle cranes, can be seen together, and its grasslands still support large herds of Mongolian gazelle. Much of the area lies within the UNESCO-listed Landscapes of Dauria and protected zones such as the Daursky and Mongol Daguur biosphere reserves, though overall protection remains limited and grazing, road-building, and hunting pose ongoing pressures.

At a glance

About the temperate grasslands, savannas & shrublands biome

Temperate prairies, steppes, and pampas of grasses and forbs with few trees, under continental climates of hot summers and cold winters. Their deep, fertile soils have made them among the most extensively converted biomes for agriculture.

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.

Collections for this ecoregion

Curated multi-plant collections whose members all fit this ecoregion's zone range — no won't-grow members smuggled in. Overall fit class shown per collection is the weakest link across its members.

Related ecoregions