Souss-Massa National Park, Morocco Photograph by © WWF-Canon/Hartmut JUNGIUS   Palaearctic Deserts and Xeric Shrublands   646,800 square miles (1,675,300 square kilometers) -- about the size of Alaska and South Dakota combined Vulnerable

· Trans-Continental Trek
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Trans-Continental Trek

Not many ecoregions span a continent, but this one does. You can begin a journey in Western Sahara and end in Egypt and still be in the North Saharan Steppe and Woodlands ecoregion. This ecoregion forms an arc along the northern limits of the great Sahara Desert, intervening between the desert and two bodies of water: the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Here sparse vegetation is scattered across the landscape, which receives only 4 to 10 inches (100-250 mm) of rain each year. This region is strongly seasonal, with winter rains bringing many plant species into bloom, including rimth, a small bush that is a favorite food of passing camels.

Special Features

This ecoregion is as hot and dry as other Saharan regions during the summer, but in the winter, temperatures cool and some rain falls. Sand dunes and other dry-country features dominate this landscape. Wadis, which are dry river beds, support a few species of trees and large bushes whose roots tap into underground sources of water. Regs are gravelly deserts where few plants grow, the hard soils preventing them from setting roots. Hamadas (stony plateau remnants) also support few plants. These formations have little water and high amounts of salt. The sand dunes, however, support flowers that bloom from January through March.

	The aoudad inhabits hamadas and wadis (valley slopes) but avoids the regs which may act as barriers between regional populations.

Wild Side

Desert-adapted mammals roam this dry country. Dorcas gazelles are the most abundant; they are joined by other grazers such as addax antelope and Cuvier’s gazelles. Africa’s only species of wild sheep, the aoudad or Barbary sheep, lives here too. Fennec foxes hunt small rodents such as jerboas. Other animals common here include horned vipers, spiny-tailed lizards, sandgrouse, and jackals. Houbara and Nubian bustards (related to cranes and plovers) are also found in this ecoregion, but their numbers are being reduced by hunting for food and sport. Endangered animals that live in this ecoregion include cheetahs, pallid harriers, lesser kestrels, striped hyenas, Sahara oryx, lions, and lappet-faced vultures.

Cause for Concern

Populations of aoudad (a wild north African sheep) and the two bustards of this ecoregion have decreased drastically since 1970. Bustards are hunted for food and sport, as are the aoudads. Overgrazing by livestock destroys the already scant vegetation, which reduces food that many of the region’s native animals need and this has led to further declines in aoudad populations. Removal of vegetation also leads to lower rainfall, which leads to desertification.

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