The South Siberian forest steppe is a Palearctic ecoregion forming several patches of low-lying terrain across south-central Siberia in Russia, running roughly from Tomsk in the west to east of Krasnoyarsk, with smaller patches reaching into Irkutsk Oblast near Lake Baikal. As its name suggests, it is a patchwork of grasslands interspersed with woodland groves of birch, aspen, and oak, while drier steppe openings carry grasses, thyme, and wormwood. The climate is strongly continental, with short mild summers, cold snowy winters, and relatively low annual precipitation. Sitting as a transition zone between the West Siberian taiga to the north and the Altai Mountains to the south, the region supports high biodiversity, with the saker falcon as its flagship species, though intensive agriculture has degraded a large share of its native steppe.

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