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 North Saharan steppe and woodlands covers 1,675,300 square kilometers (646,800 sq mi) in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, and Western Sahara.

Plant communities include steppes of grasses, herbs and low shrubs, tall shrublands, and dry woodlands.

Many herbaceous ephemeral plants, particularly in the north, germinate in January during the wet season and quickly mature and flower before they dry out in the spring.

There are a variety of snakes and lizards, including two endemic species, desert agama (Trapelus mutabilis) and Natterer's gecko (Tropiocolotes nattereri).