The Nile Delta flooded savanna lies entirely within Egypt, spanning the Nile Delta where the river meets the Mediterranean and following the Nile's floodplain roughly 1,100 kilometres upstream to the Aswan High Dam. It is a wetland and floodplain mosaic whose once-dominant papyrus sedge (Cyperus papyrus) has largely been replaced by farmland; characteristic plants today include common reed (Phragmites australis), bulrushes (Typha), and salt-tolerant sea rush (Juncus maritimus) near the coast. The climate is hot and arid, with little rainfall that falls mainly in the cooler winter months. The delta and its riverine marshes form one of the world's great bird migration corridors between the Palearctic and Afrotropical realms, hosting white storks, great white pelicans, and other waterbirds, while the critically endangered Egyptian tortoise serves as the ecoregion's flagship species. Less than one percent of the ecoregion is officially protected, and the loss of natural flooding after the Aswan Dam has degraded its papyrus swamps and other marshes.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 30.8°N, 31.4°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-12a
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.9°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
Flooded Grasslands & Savannas
Realm
Palearctic
Approximate area
19,638 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Imperiled (Dinerstein NNH 4)
About the flooded grasslands & savannas biome
Grasslands and savannas subject to seasonal or year-round flooding, including large wetland complexes. Exceptionally productive, they concentrate waterbirds and aquatic life.
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.
Related ecoregions
Other flooded grasslands & savannas ecoregions to explore: