St. Peter and St. Paul Rocks is one of Earth's smallest ecoregions, a cluster of tiny islets belonging to Brazil that rise from the equatorial Atlantic Ocean more than 800 km from South America, where part of the mid-oceanic ridge breaks through the sea surface. There is almost no terrestrial vegetation: only the largest islet, Belmonte, carries mosses and grasses, while the other barren rocks support little more than salt-tolerant sea algae and fungi. The climate is shaped by the Intertropical Convergence Zone, with low average winds broken by local thunderstorms, and the only freshwater comes from rain, as none of the islets hold a permanent supply. Despite the bleak land, the surrounding waters are rich, home to over 100 reef fishes of which about ten percent are found nowhere else, alongside breeding seabirds such as the brown booby, brown noddy, and black noddy and the islands' flagship Sally Lightfoot crab. Designated an environmentally protected area in 1986, the rocks now face existential risk from climate change and rising ocean levels.

Climate snapshot for this ecoregion

At a glance

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.

Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion

No catalog plants intersect this ecoregion's zone range. As the catalog grows to cover this region's climate band, suggestions will surface here.

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.

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