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
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