The Arnhem Land tropical savanna covers the rugged Arnhem Land peninsula and its offshore islands, including the Tiwi Islands, Groote Eylandt, and the Wessel Islands, in Australia's Northern Territory. Eucalypt open forests dominate the landscape, led by Darwin stringybark (Eucalyptus tetrodonta) and Darwin woollybutt (Eucalyptus miniata) over a tall understory of Sorghum grasses, interspersed with monsoon rainforest patches, mangroves, and Melaleuca swamp forests. The climate is tropical and strongly monsoonal, with a summer wet season and a largely rainless dry season. Long isolation has made it exceptionally diverse: over 1,900 plant taxa have been recorded, at least 200 of them found nowhere else, and a 2017 assessment found that 36% of the ecoregion lies within protected areas such as Kakadu National Park.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 13.0°S, 133.3°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
13a-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
13a-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +4.0°F by mid-century. SSP3-7.0 (current trajectory) · CHELSA v2.1 bio06 sampled across 10 of 10 points within this ecoregion's bounding box.
Nature Could Reach Half Protected (Dinerstein NNH 2)
About the tropical & subtropical grasslands, savannas & shrublands biome
Warm grasslands and savannas where grasses dominate and trees are scattered, maintained by seasonal rainfall, grazing, and fire. They support large herbivore communities and respond sharply to wet–dry cycles.
Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion
No catalog plants intersect this ecoregion's zone range. As the catalog grows to cover this region's climate band, suggestions will surface here.
Collections for this ecoregion
No curated collection's plants all fit this ecoregion's zone range. We surface a collection only when every member would grow here — partial fits get filtered out rather than mislead. As the catalog and the curated set both grow, this section will fill in.
Related ecoregions
Other tropical & subtropical grasslands, savannas & shrublands ecoregions to explore: