The Cape York Peninsula tropical savanna is a tropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion in northern Australia. It occupies the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, mainland Australia's northernmost point. It is coterminous with the Cape York Peninsula (code CYP), an interim Australian bioregion.

Geography

The ecoregion covers the northern portion of the Cape York Peninsula, along with the adjacent Torres Strait Islands. It is bounded by the Carpentaria tropical savanna ecoregion to the southwest, Einasleigh Uplands savanna to the south, and Queensland tropical rain forests to the southeast.

The west of the region is dominated in the south by an extensive Tertiary sand sheet dissected by the drainage systems of the Holroyd Plain, the Tertiary laterite of the Weipa Plateau, and the low rises of Mesozoic sandstones, while the northern section consists of the Weipa Plateau together with extensive coastal plains along the Gulf of Carpentaria. To the east lie aeolian dunefields. Along the eastern margin, the geology of the Coen-Yambo Inlier is complex, with volcanic, metamorphic and acid intrusive rocks. The subregion of the Battle Camp Sandstones, formed from deeply dissected plateaus, lies in the south of the region, with the Laura Lowlands, composed of sands and silts, and colluvial and alluvial clays, lying adjacent.

Climate

The climate is tropical, humid or maritime, with rainfall varying from 1000 mm to 1600 mm, including some high-rainfall areas at high elevations.

Flora

The vegetation mainly consists of woodlands, heathlands, sedgelands, vine forests (including both semi-deciduous vine forests on the eastern ranges and deciduous vine thickets on western slopes). Mangrove forests are found in the north east and along the estuaries on the coasts.

Subregions

In the IBRA system, Cape York Peninsula (CYP) has nine sub-regions:

IBRA regions and subregions: IBRA7
IBRA subregion	IBRA code	Area
		ha	acres
Coen-Yambo Inlier	CYP01	2,312,126	5,713,390
Starke Coastal Lowlands	CYP02	512,498	1,266,410
Cape York-Torres Strait	CYP03	94,367	233,190
Jardine-Pascoe Sandstones	CYP04	1,444,223	3,568,750
Battle Camp Sandstones	CYP05	504,409	1,246,420
Laura Lowlands	CYP06	1,791,228	4,426,220
Weipa Plateau	CYP07	2,848,753	7,039,420
Northern Holroyd Plain	CYP08	2,464,074	6,088,860
Coastal Plains	CYP09	284,780	703,700

Protected areas

Protected areas in the ecoregion include Alwal National Park, Binirr National Park, Cape Melville National Park, Muundhi National Park, Apudthama National Park, Kulla National Park, Rinyirru National Park, Olkola National Park, Oyala Thumotang National Park, and Wuthathi (Shelburne Bay) National Park.