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, endemic 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 9. Tropical Andes Europe and Central Asia 10. Caucasus 11. Irano-Anatolian 12. Mediterranean Basin 13. Mountains of Central Asia Africa 14. Cape Floristic Region 15. Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa 16. Eastern Afromontane 17. Guinean Forests of West Africa 18. Horn of Africa 19. Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands 20. Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany 21. Succulent Karoo South Asia 22. Eastern Himalaya, India 23. Indo-Burma, India and Myanmar 24. Western Ghats & Sri Lanka South East Asia and Asia-Pacific 25. East Melanesian Islands 26. New Caledonia 27. New Zealand 28. Philippines 29. Polynesia-Micronesia 30. Southwest Australia 31. Sundaland 32. Wallacea East Asia 33. Japan 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

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

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

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 9. Tropical Andes Europe and Central Asia 10. Caucasus 11. Irano-Anatolian 12. Mediterranean Basin 13. Mountains of Central Asia Africa 14. Cape Floristic Region 15. Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa 16. Eastern Afromontane 17. Guinean Forests of West Africa 18. Horn of Africa 19. Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands 20. Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany 21. Succulent Karoo South Asia 22. Eastern Himalaya, India 23. Indo-Burma, India and Myanmar 24. Western Ghats & Sri Lanka South East Asia and Asia-Pacific 25. East Melanesian Islands 26. New Caledonia 27. New Zealand 28. Philippines 29. Polynesia-Micronesia 30. Southwest Australia 31. Sundaland 32. Wallacea East Asia 33. Japan 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

Mountains of Southwest China

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