The Carpentaria tropical savanna sweeps across the depositional plains south of the Gulf of Carpentaria in northern Australia, spanning northwestern Queensland's Gulf Country and the northeastern Northern Territory, and taking in the Wellesley and Pellew Islands. Open eucalypt woodlands dominate the landscape, with Darwin stringybark (Eucalyptus tetrodonta) and bloodwoods rising over spinifex hummock grasses, while bluegrass (Dichanthium) grasslands blanket the clay plains and Melaleuca woodlands and mangroves fringe the wetter coast. The climate is strongly monsoonal, with summer rains arriving roughly November through March followed by a long dry season. The region is home to the endemic Carpentarian rock-rat (Zyzomys palatalis), and its coastal mudflats are a critical stopover for thousands of migratory shorebirds on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 17.5°S, 139.3°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
12a-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
12a-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +4.3°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
Computed from each plant's stated USDA zone range against this ecoregion's CHELSA-derived current zone range, with the CHELSA mid-century warming delta applied for the projection. Plants whose stated range falls outside both the current and projected zone end up dropped; the rest land in one of the three buckets below.
Climate-resilient picks · 4
These plants fit this ecoregion today AND remain in range under the mid-century SSP3-7.0 projection. Lead with these for a planting that holds up as the climate shifts.
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: