Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
The site comprises a series of alluvial plains north of the town of Kairouan, bounded by the small towns of Sbikha and Alam. The vegetation is a mixture of halophytes such as
Arthrocnemum and
Salicornia together with
Stipa tenacissima grassland with
Artemisia herba-alba and, more rarely,
Rhus tripartitum and
Lycium arabicum.
See Box and Table 2 for key species. The three Sahara–Sindian biome species include
Pterocles coronatus, this being the only IBA from which the species has been recorded. Other species occurring at the site include
Falco biarmicus and
Pterocles orientalis. The site is also the northernmost known locality in Tunisia at which
Chlamydotis undulata has been recorded breeding.
Non-bird biodiversity: None known to BirdLife International.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Threats include conversion of parts of the site into olive-groves, overgrazing and hunting.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Plaines de Kairouan (Tunisia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/plaines-de-kairouan-iba-tunisia on 23/12/2024.
