Biodiversity hotspots

The main purpose of describing hotspots is to emphasize spatial variation in the value of biodiversity. As the locations of biodiversity hotspots describe areas of relatively high value, they are often used to guide conservation policy and planning.

Defining biodiversity hotspots

The idea of defining hotspots is generally credited to the ecologist Norman Myers, who suggested that global conservation efforts should be concentrated in areas where there were high numbers of endemic species and the threat to those species was high. The reasoning behind this approach is that the most cost effective way of reducing species extinctions is to focus resources on saving centres of threatened endemic species.

See also

http://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/hotspots/Pages/default.aspx

References

Myers, N. 1988 Threatened Biotas: "Hot Spots" in Tropical Forests. The Environmentalist 8, 1–20.

Roberts, C.M. et al. 2002. Marine biodiversity hotspots and conservation priorities for tropical reefs. Science 295, 1280-1284.

The main author of this article is Johnson, Mark Please note that others may also have edited the contents of this article. Citation: Johnson, Mark (2009): Biodiversity hotspots. Available from http://www.coastalwiki.org/wiki/Biodiversity_hotspots [accessed on 25-11-2024] For other articles by this author see Category:Articles by Johnson, Mark For an overview of contributions by this author see Special:Contributions/Mark