Nama Karoo shrublands
RESOLVE 101
The Nama Karoo shrublands occupy the arid central plateau of the western interior of South Africa, spanning the Northern Cape along with northern parts of the Western and Eastern Cape, and extending into the southern interior of Namibia. The dominant cover is an open, grassy dwarf shrubland in which shrubs such as Drosanthemum, Eriocephalus, Galenia, Pentzia, Pteronia, and Ruschia mix with perennial grasses including Aristida, Digitaria, Enneapogon, and Stipagrostis, while taller trees like Acacia karroo, Diospyros lycioides, Grewia robusta, and Rhus lancea are largely confined to watercourses. The climate is harsh and unpredictable, with annual rainfall of roughly 100 to 500 millimetres that peaks between December and March and decreases from east to west and north to south, mid-summer highs above 30 degrees Celsius, sub-freezing mid-winter nights, and day-to-night swings as large as 25 degrees Celsius. Wildlife is relatively species-poor with few strict endemics, the martial eagle serving as a flagship species and only two small mammals, Visagie's golden mole and Grant's rock rat, being strictly endemic. Only about one percent of the ecoregion is protected, with pressures from livestock grazing, increased fire frequency, and invasion by Prosopis.
About the deserts & xeric shrublands biome
Arid and semi-arid lands where low, erratic rainfall and high evaporation limit vegetation to drought-adapted shrubs, succulents, and sparse grasses. Day-to-night temperature swings are large, and life is finely tuned to water scarcity.
Collections for this ecoregion
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.