Southern Indian Ocean Islands tundra

The Southern Indian Ocean Islands tundra is a tundra ecoregion that includes several subantarctic islands in the southern Indian Ocean.

The ecoregion stretches from Prince Edward Islands in the west, past the Crozet Islands to the Kerguelen Islands 1500 km to the east, and includes the active volcano Heard Island and the nearby McDonald Islands.

These rocky islands support a variety of plant life, such as tussock grasses, that has adapted to the snowy and icy conditions. There are a number of endemic plant species including Poa cookii grass and the Kerguelen cabbage (Pringlea antiscorbutica), historically a source of vitamin C for sailors, is found on all the islands, not only the Kerguelens. There are also a number of endemic lichens and liverworts.

The islands are home to birds and insects such as butterflies, moths, weevils, and spiders as well as wildlife typical of the southern oceans such as penguins, seals and seabirds. This ecoregion is a melting pot where related Antarctic and subantarctic species and subspecies co-exist, for example the following can all be found here: the sooty albatrosses (Phoebetria fusca), light-mantled albatross (Phoebetria palpebrata), northern giant petrel (Macronectes halli), southern giant petrel (Macronectes giganteus)), Antarctic fur seal () and subantarctic fur seal ()) on Prince Edward, Crozet and Heard Islands.

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