The Espinal forms a broad arc of dry, thorny country across the interior of central Argentina, running from central Santa Fe through Córdoba to the north of San Luis, within the Neotropic realm's temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands. Its name means "thorny shrubland," and the vegetation is a mosaic of deciduous xerophytic woodland, palm groves, grassy savannas and bushy steppe, with mature stands dominated by Prosopis (the algarrobos, and the largely endemic caldén) alongside Acacia, hackberries (Celtis) and chañar (Geoffroea). The northern reaches are warm and humid with summer rains, grading drier and more variable toward the south. The ecoregion shelters threatened birds such as the yellow cardinal and Chaco eagle, and its Mar Chiquita Lake and Dulce River swamps are a Ramsar wetland that is key habitat for Neotropical birdlife. Centuries of cattle ranching and expanding irrigated agriculture have left the original woodland in scattered remnants, making the caldén forests a particular conservation concern.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 36.1°S, 65.2°W.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
10b-11b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
11a-12a
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.2°F by mid-century. SSP3-7.0 (current trajectory) · CHELSA v2.1 bio06 sampled across 10 of 10 points within this ecoregion's bounding box.
At a glance
Dominant biome
Temperate Grasslands, Savannas & Shrublands
Realm
Neotropic
Approximate area
115,536 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Recover (Dinerstein NNH 3)
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.
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.
These plants fit the ecoregion as it is today, but the mid-century projection moves them outside their stated zone range — plan for them to struggle by 2070.
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.
Related ecoregions
Other temperate grasslands, savannas & shrublands ecoregions to explore: