Biodiversity Hotspots Biodiversity Hotspot: A biogeographic region characterized both by exceptional levels of plant endemism and by serious levels of habitat loss.
- Norman Myers, 1988
A hotspot must contain at least 1,500 species of vascular plants as endemics, and it has to have lost at least 70 percent of its original habitat. There are thought to be 34 or 35 hotspots - each with unique, en- demic wildlife under threat from human activities.
These sites support nearly 60% of the world’s plant, bird, mammal, reptile, and amphibian species, with a very high share of endemic species. Biodiversity Hotspots
North and Central America 1. California Floristic Province 2. Caribbean Islands 3. Madrean pine-oak woodlands 4. Mesoamerica
South America 5. Atlantic Forest 6. Cerrado 7. Chilean Winter Rainfall-Valdivian Forests 8. Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena South Asia 9. Tropical Andes 22. Eastern Himalaya, India 23. Indo-Burma, India and Myanmar Europe and Central Asia 24. Western Ghats & Sri Lanka 10. Caucasus 11. Irano-Anatolian South East Asia and Asia-Pacific 12. Mediterranean Basin 25. East Melanesian Islands 13. Mountains of Central Asia 26. New Caledonia 27. New Zealand Africa 28. Philippines 14. Cape Floristic Region 29. Polynesia-Micronesia 15. Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa 30. Southwest Australia 16. Eastern Afromontane 31. Sundaland 17. Guinean Forests of West Africa 32. Wallacea 18. Horn of Africa 19. Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands East Asia 20. Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany 33. Japan 21. Succulent Karoo 34. Mountains of Southwest China Biodiversity Hotspot In Focus
TROPICAL ANDES
Diverse habitats stretching through 7 countries: Venezuela, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.
45,000 Plant species [ 20,000 endemic
3,000+ vertebrate species [ 1,500 endemic
1666 Bird species
479 Reptile species
830 Amphibian species Tropical Andes Tropical Andes Tropical Andes Tropical Andes Tropical Andes Biodiversity Hotspot In Focus
SUCCULENT KAROO
The world’s only plant hotspot - a desert ecoregion of South Africa and Namibia.
5,000+ Plant species [ 2,000 endemic A third of the world’s 10,000 succulent plant species are found there.
115 Reptile species [ 63 endemic
50 Scorpion species [ 22 endemic Succulent Karoo Succulent Karoo Succulent Karoo Succulent Karoo Succulent Karoo Biodiversity Hotspot In Focus
SUNDALAND
This hotspot covers the western half of the Indo-Malayan archipelago, an arc of some 17,000 equatorial islands and is dominated by two of the largest islands in the world: Borneo and Sumatra.
25,000 Plant species [ 15,000 endemic
380 Mammal species [ 172 endemic
452 Reptile species [ 243 endemic
244 Amphibian species [ 196 endemic Sundaland Sundaland Sundaland Sundaland Sundaland Biodiversity Hotspots
North and Central America 1. California Floristic Province 2. Caribbean Islands 3. Madrean pine-oak woodlands 4. Mesoamerica
South America 5. Atlantic Forest 6. Cerrado 7. Chilean Winter Rainfall-Valdivian Forests 8. Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena South Asia 9. Tropical Andes 22. Eastern Himalaya, India 23. Indo-Burma, India and Myanmar Europe and Central Asia 24. Western Ghats & Sri Lanka 10. Caucasus 11. Irano-Anatolian South East Asia and Asia-Pacific 12. Mediterranean Basin 25. East Melanesian Islands 13. Mountains of Central Asia 26. New Caledonia 27. New Zealand Africa 28. Philippines 14. Cape Floristic Region 29. Polynesia-Micronesia 15. Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa 30. Southwest Australia 16. Eastern Afromontane 31. Sundaland 17. Guinean Forests of West Africa 32. Wallacea 18. Horn of Africa 19. Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands East Asia 20. Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany 33. Japan 21. Succulent Karoo 34. Mountains of Southwest China California Floristic Province Caribbean Islands Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands Mesoamerica Atlantic Forest Cerrado Chilean Winter Rainfall-Valdivian Forests Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena Tropical Andes Caucasus Irano-Anatolian Mediterranean Basin Mountains of Central Asia Cape Floristic Region Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa Eastern Afromontane Guinean Forests of West Africa Horn of Africa Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Succulent Karoo Eastern Himalaya, Nepal Indo-Burma, India and Myanmar Western Ghats and Sri Lanka East Melanesian Islands New Caledonia New Zealand The Philippines Polynesia-Micronesia Southwest Australia Sundaland Wallacea Japan Mountains of Southwest China All images © naturepl.com
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