Southern Asia: Southern Afghanistan into Pakistan and Iran

Please note: These biome and ecoregion pages (and associated data) are no longer being updated and may now be out of date. These pages and data exist for historical reference only. For updated bioregion data, please visit One Earth.

  • Scientific Code
    (PA1326)
  • Ecoregion Category
    Palearctic
  • Size
    107,100 square miles
  • Status
    Vulnerable
  • Habitats

Description


Location and General Description

Biodiversity Features

Current Status

Types and Severity of Threats

Justification of Ecoregion Delineation
Ecoregion boundaries were defined using using Zohary’s (1973) geobotanical map of the Middle East. They include Zohary’s Iranian steppes of Artemisietea herbae-albae iranica east of the Kuh-e Gamsidzai and the Kuh-e Palangan. In Afghanistan, the semi-desert communities dominated by Calligonum-Aristida Haloxylon salicornicum and other chernopods from Freitag’s (1971) natural vegetation map were used for map lines. In Pakistan, this ecoregion corresponds to the sandy desert and thorn scrub forest of the Thar-Indus bioregion in Mackinnon’s (1997) original vegetation map of the Indo-Malayan biogeographic realm.

References
Freitag, H. 1971. Studies in the natural vegetation of Afghanistan. Pages 89-106 in P. H. Davis, Harper, and I. C. Hedge, editors. Plant life of South-West Asia. The Botanical Society of Edinburgh, Edinburgh.

Mackinnon, J., M. Sha, C. Cheung, G. Carey, Z. Xiang, and D. Melville. 1996. A biodiversity review of China. World Wide Fund for Nature, Hong Kong.

Zohary, M. 1973. Geobotanical foundations of the Middle East, volume1,2. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, Germany.

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