Relating to or denoting ecological regions in the southern United States characterized by rivers, floodplains, and associated wetlands.
From austro- (southern) + riparian (from Latin riparius, 'of a riverbank'). Ecologists developed this term to classify specific South American and Southern US forest zones.
Austroriparian forests are biodiversity hotspots—these wet, river-fed ecosystems along the American South host species found nowhere else, yet few people know the word for them.
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