Diana's Peak NP, St. Helena Island, United Kingdom Photograph by John Ekwall   South Atlantic Ocean Tropical and Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands   50 square miles (100 square kilometers) -- about the size of Washington DC Critical/Endangered

· Island Getaway
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Island Getaway

The isolated island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic was made famous in 1815 when it became Napoleon’s prison after the battle of Waterloo. What did Napoleon see when he arrived? A volcano that emerges from the sea and is sculpted with steep cliffs, water-cut gorges, and deep valleys. The dormant volcano is home to the St. Helena Scrub and Woodlands ecoregion, which is filled with a diversity of endemic plants and animals.

Special Features

The vegetation of this ecoregion varies with elevation. The drier, lower elevations are dominated by scrubwood, while at intermediate elevations the scrubwood is replaced with gumwood. Tree-fern thickets dominate the higher, damper elevations. Today, however, many of these communities have been lost to human activities and can no longer be seen.

	The island of St. Helena was home to the St. Helena giant earwig--the world’s largest earwig at over three inches (8 cm) long. Unfortunately, the insect is feared to be extinct; no living specimens have been collected in more than 20 years.

Wild Side

Many of the residents of the St. Helena Scrub and Woodlands ecoregion are endemic, including most of the vascular plants, invertebrates including beetles and the world’s largest earwig, and a shorebird called the St. Helena plover.

Cause for Concern

Human activities on the island have greatly affected this ecoregion’s biodiversity. Clearing land for agriculture has resulted in large-scale habitat loss and localized climate change. For example, the loss of tree cover can increase exposure to winds and decrease moisture from the sea that condenses on plants and provides necessary water, also referred to as mist interception. Introduced plants such as acacia and eucalyptus trees are also a threat as they compete with the native plants for space and resources.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.