biodiversity hotspot

definition :

To qualify as a biodiversity hot spot, a region must meet two strict criteria:

1. It must have at least 1,500 vascular plants as endemics — which is to say, it must have a high percentage of plant life found nowhere else on the planet. A hotspot, in other words, is irreplaceable.
2.It must have 30% or less of its original natural vegetation. In other words, it must be threatened.

Around the world, 35 areas qualify as hotspots. They represent just 2.3% of Earth’s land surface, but they support more than half of the world’s plant species as endemics — i.e., species found no place else — and nearly 43% of bird, mammal, reptile and amphibian species as endemics.

reasons to preserve :
Yet the hot spots remain important for two important reasons:

1. Biodiversity underpins all life on Earth. Without species, there would be no air to breathe, no food to eat, no water to drink. There would be no human society at all. And as the places on Earth where the most biodiversity is under the most threat, hot spots are critical to human survival.
2.The map of hot spots overlaps extraordinarily well with the map of the natural places that most benefit people. That’s because hot spots are among the richest and most important ecosystems in the world — and they are home to many vulnerable populations who are directly dependent on nature to survive. By one estimate, despite comprising 2.3% of Earth’s land surface, forests, wetlands and other ecosystems in hot spots account for 35% of the “ecosystem services” that vulnerable human populations depend on.

distribution in world : 35 regions
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North and Central America

California Floristic Province •8•
Madrean pine-oak woodlands •26•
Meso-america •2•

The Caribbean

Caribbean Islands •3•

South America

Atlantic Forest •4•
Cerrado •6•
Chilean Winter Rainfall-Valdivian Forests •7•
Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena •5•
Tropical Andes •1•

Europe

Mediterranean Basin •14•

Africa

Cape Floristic Region •12•
Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa •10•
Eastern Afromontane •28•
Guinean Forests of West Africa •11•
Horn of Africa •29•
Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands •9•
Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany •27•
Succulent Karoo •13•

Central Asia

Mountains of Central Asia •31•

South Asia

Eastern Himalaya, Nepal •32•
Indo-Burma, India and Myanmar •19•
Western Ghats, India•21•
Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka•21•

South East Asia and Asia-Pacific

East Melanesian Islands •34•
New Caledonia •23•
New Zealand •24•
Philippines •18•
Polynesia-Micronesia •25•
Southwest Australia •22•
Sundaland •16•
Wallacea •17•

East Asia

Japan •33•
Mountains of Southwest China •20•

West Asia

Caucasus •15•
Irano-Anatolian •30•

biodiversity in india : 4 :
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1. The Eastern Himalayas
2. Indo-Burma :include areas south of brhmaputra river in north eastern states of india.
3. Sundaland : covers the nicobar islands of india along with indonesia.
4. western ghats .