The Mediterranean dry woodlands and steppe ecoregion occupies the interior plateaus and mountain ranges of North Africa's Maghreb, stretching from eastern Morocco across northern Algeria to the Tunisian coast at the Gulf of Gabes, with outliers in Libya and northern Egypt west of the Nile Delta. Lying between the coastal Mediterranean forests and the Sahara, it is dominated by steppe grasslands and shrublands: esparto and needle grass (Stipa tenacissima), white wormwood (Artemisia herba-alba) on silty ground, and Lygeum spartum on sandy soils, with Aleppo pine on mountain slopes and Mount Atlas mastic (Pistacia atlantica) scattered through it. The climate is arid, with annual rainfall generally between roughly 100 and 300 mm and temperatures swinging from near 0 degrees C in winter to about 40 degrees C in summer. It shelters distinctive wildlife including Cuvier's gazelle as its flagship species, alongside Dorcas gazelle, golden jackal, and Barbary sheep, but faces serious desertification driven by overgrazing, deforestation, and the spread of cultivation.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 33.9°N, 1.3°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
10b-12b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
11a-12b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.1°F by mid-century. SSP3-7.0 (current trajectory) · CHELSA v2.1 bio06 sampled across 6 of 10 points within this ecoregion's bounding box.
At a glance
Dominant biome
Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands & Scrub
Realm
Palearctic
Approximate area
112,819 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Recover (Dinerstein NNH 3)
About the mediterranean forests, woodlands & scrub biome
Regions of hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters supporting drought-adapted shrublands — chaparral, maquis, fynbos — and open woodlands. Fire is a natural shaping force, and these climates hold extraordinary plant diversity and endemism.
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 mediterranean forests, woodlands & scrub ecoregions to explore: