Year 11 Pre-Diploma Biology

BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS
We tried to define biodiversity write down here what you now understand by the word
BIODIVERSITY.
A wide variety of different species and organisms in an specific environment.

Around the world are various biodiversity HOTSPOTS. What do you understand by this
term, hotspot?
It is a specific place in the environment which has a lot of different species and a wide variety
of organisms. This certain place can be essential for the ecosystem and very important to the
world, providing big amounts of living things that can be unique to that certain place in the
entire world.

List some of the more famous biodiversity hotspots, and beside each, very briefly say what
makes it a hotspot or why it is determined or conserved as a hotspot.
1. Galapagos
2. Madagascar
3. Himalayas
4. Caribbean Islands
5. Sinharaja forest
6. Fiordland
7. Timanfaya National Park
8. Marojejy
9. Yosemite National Park
10. New Zealand
Now go to www.biodiversityhotspots.org. Here you will find some useful definitions and some
quite detailed descriptions of the worlds hotspots. Select any one of the hotspots from the
drop-down menu and make a written summary with the following information:

The Webpage wasnt available

Where is the hotspot?
Why is it especially important?
What important species are present?
Who looks after or is responsible for the conservation of this hotspot?
John Osborne
February 2015