Definition Of Biodiversity Hotspot In Biology

Biodiversity hotspots make up about 2 3 percent of earth s land surface but 44 percent of the world s plants and 35 percent of land vertebrates live in these regions.

Definition of biodiversity hotspot in biology. A biodiversity hotspot is a region of the earth that is extremely biologically diverse and also under severe threat due to habitat loss climate change or extensive species loss. Biodiversity hotspots are a method to identify those regions of the world where attention is needed to address biodiversity loss and to guide investments in conservation. Earth s biologically richest and most endangered terrestrial ecoregions and a paper published in the journal nature. Biodiversity hotspots are home to unique flora and fauna most of which are endemic to the particular environment.

Norman myers wrote about the concept in two articles in the environmentalist and 1990 revised after thorough analysis by myers and others hotspots. A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region that is both a significant reservoir of biodiversity and is threatened with destruction. Around 25 sites worldwide are recognized as such hotspots and several organizations have made efforts to protect these sites. Yet biodiversity hotspots are by definition in a conservation crisis.

Most plants in a biodiversity hotspot are endemic meaning they are not found anywhere else on earth. To be classified as a biodiversity hotspot a region must have lost at least 70 percent of its original natural vegetation usually due to human activity. A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with significant levels of biodiversity that is threatened by human habitation. To qualify as a biodiversity hotspot on myers 2000 edition of the hotspot map a region.