The climate of the Mediterranean coastal regions of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica make it an area of cultivation for olive and citrus trees, along with laurel and cork oak¹. These trees are able to withstand the summer drought periods by being extremely deep rooted and being able to access the underlying water ecosystem. This also applies to the numerous herbs which grow in these regions, such as rosemary and thyme. Other plants native to this area include asphodel, jabule, bougainvillea and oleander².

Tripolitania

Tripolitania, in the Northwest of the country, has a coastal strip area which supports numerous palm groves where fruit and grain crops are cultivated. This steppe area is known as the Al-Jifarah Plain³. The central area of the plain has a low level of precipitation which supports only nomadic sheep and goat herding⁴. Roughly 240km inland sees the start of the Nafusah Plateau, which has scattered areas of grassland, with scrub bush mainly to the north of the plateau, and barren basalt and rock to the south⁵. After this, in the South, begins the hot arid Sahara desert with a sparse cultivation of date palms and fig trees, which grow mainly around spring areas and oases.

The Sahara is also home to the flowering twisted acacia tree, which needs no more than 2cm of water to flourish.

Cyrenaica

The Cyrenaica coastal plain extends south, ending with a steep escarpment that sees the start of the Marj plain, which is a steppe area extending southwards to the Jebel Akhdar Mountain range, also known as the Green Mountain region, which has a dense forest and scant precipitation, making this area also suitable for the cultivation of olives and figs⁷. This region also supports lentisc and juniper trees and many varieties of grass, including bluegrass and canary grass⁸. Further south, due to the higher level of the Tibesti Mountain range, areas of bushy vegetation can be found, including myrtles, tamarisks and palms.

Fezzan is renowned for its vast cultivation of date palm trees, which number in the millions. These trees are found in oases across the region, and cover several hundred thousand acres of land⁹. These oases are home to agricultural crops, including cereals, such as wheat and barley. The region also supports vegetable crops of tomatoes, onions, potatoes and various beans. An abundance of citrus fruit trees spread across the area, along with huge crops of water melons¹⁰.

The Sahara desert region supports countless species of smaller animals, such as rodents, reptiles and insects.

Among the rodent species are the Grobben’s gerbils, Alexandrian shrews, and the Libyan jerboa, all of which are on the endangered species ‘Red List’ of the International Union for Conservation of Nature¹³. Also found in this region are elephant shrews, blind mole rats, zokors (a form of mole rat) and bamboo rats¹⁴.

The poisonous adder and krait snakes are among the 95 species of reptiles that inhabit the scattered oases and water holes, living alongside are the orange tail lizard, and the kleinmanni tortoise and golden creek turtle, all of which are on the aforementioned Red List of endangered species¹⁵.

Permanent winged inhabitants of the Sahara, are the white crowned wheatear which is a common sighting¹⁶, along with desert sparrows, Barbary partridges, Egyptian nightjars, horned grebes, desert grey shrikes and pharaoh eagle-owl¹⁷.

Insect life of Libya is varied and includes many species, including flying scorpions, honey bees, mosquitoes, camel spiders, scarab beetles, Saharan silver ants, which are the fastest ants on Earth, and locusts, which can devastate large crop fields in a in under an hour. Most of the insects found in the Sahara owe their survival to two reasons, firstly their hard, waxy skins or shells, which helps them retain moisture, and secondly their ability to burrow under rocks and sand to avoid the hot Saharan sun¹⁸.