| Red Sea coastal desert | |
|---|---|
 Desert near Marsa Alam, Egypt | |
 map of the Red Sea coastal desert | |
| Ecology | |
| Realm | Palearctic |
| Biome | deserts and xeric shrublands |
| Geography | |
| Area | 59,300 km2 (22,900 sq mi) |
| Countries | Egypt and Sudan |
| Conservation | |
| Conservation status | relatively stable |
The Red Sea coastal desert is deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion of Egypt and Sudan.
The Red Sea coastal desert extends north and south along the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez, which bound it on the east. It includes both a narrow coastal strip and the Red Sea Hills, a range of coastal mountains that runs parallel to the coast. The Egyptian portion is bounded on the west by the Eastern Desert, part of the hyper-arid Sahara Desert ecoregion. The Sudanese portion is bounded by the South Saharan steppe on the west, and by the Sahelian Acacia savanna to the south. [1]
Most precipitation comes in the winter months. Rainfall is as little as 3 mm along the coast. Rainfall is higher on the eastern slopes of the mountains, which intercept periodic moisture-bearing winds which create fog precipitation and occasional heavy rainstorms.
Vegetation includes mangrove swamps and salt marshes along the shore, sparse shrublands along the coast, and dry woodlands in stream valleys. Lusher woodlands and shrublands occur in areas with higher rainfall and mountain mists, and along mountain streams. Jebel Elba, a mountain lying near the coast in the border region contested between Egypt and Sudan, supports the most diverse plant life in the ecoregion.
The mountains are home to the aardwolf (Proteles cristatus) endangered Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana), and Barbary sheep (Ammonotragus lervia). Other mammals include the Dorcas gazelle (Gaella dorcas), pale fox (Vulpes pallida), and rock hyrax (Procavia capensis). [1]
Protected areas in the ecoregion include Wadi El Gamal National Park in Egypt, and Gabal Elba National Park in the disputed Egypt-Sudan border region currently administered by Egypt.
Djibouti is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. To the east is its coastline on the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Rainfall is sparse, and most of the territory has a semi-arid to arid environment. Lake Assal is a saline lake which lies 155 m (509 ft) below sea level, making it the lowest point on land in Africa and the third-lowest point on Earth after the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. Djibouti has the fifth smallest population in Africa. Djibouti's major settlements include the capital Djibouti City, the port towns of Tadjoura and Obock, and the southern cities of Ali Sabieh and Dikhil. It is the forty-six country by area in Africa and 147st largest country in the world by land area, covering a total of 23,200 km2 (9,000 sq mi), of which 23,180 km2 (8,950 sq mi) is land and 20 km2 (7.7 sq mi) is water.
Eritrea is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered on the northeast and east by the Red Sea, on the west and northwest by Sudan, on the south by Ethiopia, and on the southeast by Djibouti. The country has a high central plateau that varies from 1,800 to 3,000 meters (5,906–9,843 ft) above sea level. A coastal plain, western lowlands, and some 350 islands comprise the remainder of Eritrea's land mass.
The Sahara desert, as defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), includes the hyper-arid center of the Sahara, between latitudes 18° N and 30° N. It is one of several desert and xeric shrubland ecoregions that cover the northern portion of the African continent.
Somalia is a country located in the Horn of Africa which officially consists of five federal member states, namely Galmudug, Hirshabelle, Jubaland, South West, Puntland and the municipality of Benadir. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Somaliland to the northwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Somali Sea and Guardafui Channel to the east, and Kenya to the southwest. With a land area of 637,657 square kilometers, Somalia's terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains and highlands. Its coastline is more than 3,333 kilometers in length, the longest of mainland Africa. It has been described as being roughly shaped "like a tilted number seven".
The Sahel is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition in Africa between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a semi-arid climate, it stretches across the south-central latitudes of Northern Africa between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea. The name is derived from the Arabic term for "coast, shore"; this is explained as being used in a figurative sense. However, such figurative use is unattested in Classical Arabic, and it has been suggested that the word may originally have been derived from the Arabic word sahl سهل "plain" instead.
The Sahara is a desert on the African continent. With an area of 9,200,000 square kilometres (3,600,000 sq mi), it is the largest hot desert in the world and the third largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the Arctic. The name 'Sahara' is derived from the Arabic word for "desert", ṣaḥra, plural.
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 Eastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forests, also known as the Eastern Mediterranean conifer-broadleaf forests, is an ecoregion in the eastern Mediterranean Basin. It covers portions of Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.
The wildlife of Egypt is composed of the flora and fauna of this country in northeastern Africa and southwestern Asia, and is substantial and varied. Apart from the fertile Nile Valley, which bisects the country from south to north, the majority of Egypt's landscape is desert, with a few scattered oases. It has long coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf of Suez, the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea. Each geographic region has a diversity of plants and animals each adapted to its own particular habitat.
The Mediterranean Acacia-Argania dry woodlands and succulent thickets is a Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion in North Africa centered mainly on Morocco but also including northwestern Western Sahara and the eastern Canary Islands.
The North Saharan steppe and woodlands is a desert ecoregion, in the Deserts and xeric shrublands biome, that forms the northern edge of the Sahara. It extends east and west across Northern Africa, south of the Mediterranean dry woodlands and steppe ecoregion of the Maghreb and Cyrenaica, which is part of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. Winter rains sustain shrublands and dry woodlands that form an ecotone between the Mediterranean climate regions to the north and the hyper-arid Sahara Desert ecoregion to the south.
The Mediterranean woodlands and forests is an ecoregion in the coastal plains, hills, and mountains bordering the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean in North Africa. It has a Mediterranean climate, and is in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome.
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 Tibesti-Jebel Uweinat montane xeric woodlands is a deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion in the eastern Sahara. The woodlands ecoregion occupies two separate highland regions, covering portions of northern Chad, southwestern Egypt, southern Libya, and northwestern Sudan.
The Eastern Anatolian montane steppe is a temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion. It is located in high plateau of Eastern Anatolia, covering parts of eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, southern Georgia, and northwestern Iran.
The Northern Acacia-Commiphora bushlands and thickets are a tropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion in eastern Africa. The ecoregion is mostly located in Kenya, extending north into southeastern South Sudan, northeastern Uganda, and southwestern Ethiopia, and south into Tanzania along the Kenya-Tanzania border.
The Somali Acacia-Commiphora bushlands and thickets is a semi-arid tropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion in the Horn of Africa. It is home to diverse communities of plants and animals, including several endemic species.
The Southwestern Arabian foothills savanna, also known as the Southwestern Arabian Escarpment shrublands and woodlands, is a desert and xeric shrubland ecoregion of the southern Arabian Peninsula, covering portions of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Oman.
The South Arabian fog woodlands, shrublands, and dune is an ecoregion in Oman and Yemen. The fog woodlands lie on mountainsides which slope southeastwards towards the Arabian Sea. The mountains intercept moisture-bearing winds from the Arabian Sea, creating orographic precipitation and frequent fogs that sustain unique woodlands and shrublands in a desert region.
The Red Sea Nubo-Sindian tropical desert and semi-desert ecoregion covers extremely arid land along the northeastern Red Sea, the southern Sinai Peninsula, and on a thin strip along the Israel-Jordan border. Most of the coastal land is flat, but there are high mountains in southern Sinai. Biodiversity is limited by the low moisture levels - some areas go for years without significant rain. Portions of the area support a thin savannah-like cover of widely scattered trees and scrub, surrounded by grasses that briefly flourish after a rainfall. Biodiversity is highest in the mountains of Sinai, and in the wadis and gullies that retain moisture.