The ecology of California can be understood by dividing the state into a number of ecoregions, which contain distinct ecological communities of plants and animals in a contiguous region. The ecoregions of California can be grouped into four major groups: desert ecoregions, Mediterranean ecoregions, forested mountains, and coastal forests.
The South Saharan steppe and woodlands, also known as the South Sahara desert, is a deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion of northern Africa. This band is a transitional region between the Sahara's very arid center to the north, and the wetter Sahelian Acacia savanna ecoregion to the south. In pre-modern times, the grasslands were grazed by migratory gazelles and other ungulates after the rainfalls. More recently, over-grazing by domestic livestock have degraded the territory. Despite the name of the ecoregion, there are few 'woodlands' in the area; those that exist are generally acacia and shrubs along rivers and in wadis.
The wildlife of Turkmenistan is the flora and fauna of Turkmenistan, and the natural habitats in which they live. Turkmenistan is a country in Central Asia to the east of the Caspian Sea. Two thirds of the country is hot dry plains and desert, and the rest is more mountainous. Very little rain falls in summer and the chief precipitation occurs in the southern part of the country in the winter and spring. The Caspian coast has milder winters.
Sayram-Ugam National Park, also Sairam-Ugam, is a mountainous region of the Western Tian Shan Mountains, on the border with Uzbekistan. Ugam-Chatkal National Park of Uzbekistan is across the border, and Aksu-Zhabagly Nature Reserve of Kazakhstan is directly to the northeast along the border. The area has high levels of species diversity, covering floral communities from steppe to high altitude zones. It is particularly known for stands of juniper forests, and stands of fruit and nut trees. Sayram-Ugam is located in Kazygurt District, Tole Bi District and Tulkibas District of South Kazakhstan Region. The park boundary is 30 kilometres (19 mi) southeast of the regional city of Shymkent, and 50 km northeast of the Uzbekh capital of Tashkent.
The Altai montane forest and forest steppe ecoregion covers patches of the subalpine forest belt on the Altai Mountains, crossing the border region where Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China meet. The region has high biodiversity, as it is located in transition zones between different ecoregions, altitudes, and climate zones. It is in the Palearctic realm, with a Cold semi-arid climate. It covers 35,199,998 km2 (13,590,795 sq mi).
The East European forest steppe ecoregion is a patchwork of broadleaf forest stands and grasslands (steppe) that stretches 2,100 km across eastern Europe from the Ural Mountains in Ural, through Povolzhye, Central Russia to the middle of Ukraine. There are isolated areas of similar character off the western end in eastern Romania, Moldova, and Bulgaria.
The Caspian lowland desert ecoregion covers the north and southeast coasts of the Caspian Sea, including the deltas of the Volga River and Ural River in the northern region. While the region gets relatively low amounts of precipitation, wildlife is supported by the river estuaries and the sea itself. The wetlands are an internationally important area for bird nesting and migratory resting. The ecoregion is in the Palearctic realm, and the deserts and xeric shrublands biome. It has an area of 267,300 square kilometres (103,200 sq mi).
The Central Asian riparian woodlands ecoregion is spread out across the deserts and plains of central Asia between the Aral Sea and the mountains 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) to the east. The long narrow components of the ecoregion follow the large rivers fed by snowmelt, and provide critical habitat for migratory birds as they travel through the arid region. The vegetation is referred to as tugai, characterized by low tangles of trees and brush along the edges of the rivers and associated wetlands, and fed by groundwater instead of precipitation.
The Central Asian southern desert ecoregion is an arid but ecologically active region between the east coast of the Caspian Sea and steppes at the base of the mountains of central Asia. Most of Turkmenistan and eastern Uzbekistan is in this ecoregion. The winters are milder than in the cold desert to the north, and a large number of endemic species have adapted to living in the particular climate and soil of the region. As with sandy deserts in general, the region is notable for high numbers of endemic species of reptiles and insects.
The Kopet Dag semi-desert ecoregion is a small ecoregion that crosses the border of southwestern Turkmenistan into northeastern Iran. It covers a transition zone between the deserts to the north and west, and the foothill steppes and woodlands in the higher Kopet Dag mountains to the east and the Alborz Mountains to the south. The terrain is mostly barren semi-desert and widespread 'takir', a type of seasonal salt flat or dried clay deposit in an interdune depression.
The Badghyz and Karabil semi-desert ecoregion covers the hills north of the central mountain ranges of Afghanistan, southeast Turkmenistan, and portions of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The landscape has been described as "savannah-like" and reminiscent of Africa, with desert sedges (Carex) and stands of wild pistachio trees. The area supports high biodiversity and a number of rare and endemic species, such as the endangered Turkmenian kulan (Equus hemionus kulan).
The Alai-Western Tian Shan steppe ecoregion covers the foothills on the western edge of the Tien Shan and Alay Mountains of Central Asia. This territory is mostly in southeastern Uzbekistan, with a portion running north into Kazakhstan on the east side of the Syr Darya River, and a small portion in Turkmenistan.
The Gissaro-Alai open woodlands ecoregion covers the western foothills winding around two western offshoots of the Tian Shan Mountains in western Tajikistan, and parts of eastern Uzbekistan and western Kyrgyzstan, in Central Asia. The woodlands are typically of Juniper trees and shrubs, fitting the altitude zone situated between the desert valley floor, and the tree line, above which the mountain ridges are glaciated and barren.
The Middle East steppe ecoregion stretches in an arc from southern Jordan across Syria and Iraq to the western border of Iran. The upper plains of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers dominate most of the ecoregion. The terrain is mostly open shrub steppe. The climate is arid. Evidence is that this region was once more of a forest-steppe, but centuries of overgrazing and gathering firewood have reduced tree and grass cover to small areas and along the riverine corridors. Despite the degraded condition of the steppe environment, the ecoregion is important for water birds as the rivers and reservoirs provide habitat in the arid region.
The Kuh Rud and Eastern Iran montane woodlands ecoregion covers hills and mountains in central and eastern Iran. The habitat is wetter and cooler than the surrounding desert of the Iranian Plateau, supporting the vulnerable goitered gazelle and small populations of the cheetah. The ecoregion is under conservation threat from overgrazing and conversion of steep slopes to cultivation.
The Central Persian desert basins ecoregion covers the arid steppe and desert basins of central Iran, stretching into northwestern Afghanistan. The ecoregion extends over the Central Iranian Plateau, which is surrounded by mountain ranges and has no outlets to the sea. Much of the terrain is hot sand-and-gravel desert and large salt flats. The vegetation includes many specialized species of halophytes (salt-tolerant), xerophytes (drought-tolerant), and psammophile (sand-loving) plants.
The Paropamisus xeric woodlands ecoregion covers the portion of northeastern Afghanistan north of the central mountain range and the Hindu Kush Mountains. The name is derived from the Old Persian name for the region, Parupraesanna. While there are low canopy woodlands in the northeast of the ecorgegion, most of the territory is desert or xeric (dry) scrubland.
The Baluchistan xeric woodlands ecoregion covers the middle elevations of a series of mountain ranges of western Pakistan and northeastern Afghanistan, reaching 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) from the Arabian Sea in the south to the Hindu Kush Mountains and the Himalayas in the north. The characteristic vegetation is xeric (dry) woodlands of shrubs and herbaceous cover. The region has rich biodiversity but relatively few endemic species.
