The West Sudanian savanna stretches in a broad east-west band across West Africa, reaching from the Atlantic coast of Senegal and The Gambia eastward to the Mandara Mountains on Nigeria's eastern border and spanning around a dozen countries. It is a tropical savanna and open-woodland ecoregion where Combretum and Terminalia are the characteristic trees and tall Hyparrhenia, or elephant grass, dominates a ground layer of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, with the Combretaceae and Fabaceae among the leading plant families. The climate is tropical and strongly seasonal, with a hot rainy season and a cooler dry season and rainfall that declines from the wetter south toward the drier north. Its flagship animal is the giant eland (Taurotragus derbianus), and the transboundary W-Arly-Penjari complex shelters the only savanna elephant population in western or central Africa, numbering over 2,000. Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) is among the useful trees native to its drier woodlands.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 11.9°N, 0.9°W.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
12a-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
12b-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.6°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.
About the tropical & subtropical grasslands, savannas & shrublands biome
Warm grasslands and savannas where grasses dominate and trees are scattered, maintained by seasonal rainfall, grazing, and fire. They support large herbivore communities and respond sharply to wet–dry cycles.
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 · 4
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 tropical & subtropical grasslands, savannas & shrublands ecoregions to explore: