Norman Myers coined the term "hot spot" in 1988 to describe geographical regions with a high concentration of "endemic," "rare," and "threatened" species located in small areas yet facing significant threat to habitat loss.
Criteria for selection of Hotspot
An area to be identified as a Biodiversity hotspot it should qualify the following two criteria:
- The area with at least 1,500 species of endemic vascular plants.
- The area must have lost at least 70 per cent of its primary native vegetation.
Biodiversity Hotspots Across the World
At present, there are 36 hotspots across the world. They cover just 2.4 percent of the Earth's land surface, yet they are home to more than half of the world's plant species and almost 43% of bird, mammal, reptile, and amphibian species.
There are eight hottest hot spots identified in the world:
- Madagascar
- Philippines
- Sundaland [South East Asia]
- Brazil’s Atlantic Forest
- Caribbean
- Indo-Burma
- The Western Ghats and Sri Lanka
- Eastern Arc and Coastal Forests of Tanzania/Kenya
Hotspots in India
In India, there are 4 biodiversity hot spots:
- The Eastern Himalayas [spread across Arunachal Pradesh, Bhutan, Eastern Nepal]
- Indo-Burma and [Purvanchal Hills, Arakan Yoma, Eastern Bangladesh]
- The Western Ghats and Sri Lanka
- Sundalands: Includes Nicobar group of Islands (and Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Philippines).
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