Year 11 Pre-Diploma Biology

BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS

We tried to define biodiversity …… write down here what you now understand by the word BIODIVERSITY.

Biological diversity is the variety and variability among the organisms and ecology. It divides into community diversity, species diversity, and genetic diversity. Genetic diversity is about genetic differences in two populations of the same species. Species diversity is about the amount of different species in a fixed area. Comunity diversity is about different ecosystems and habitats.

Around the world are various biodiversity ‘HOTSPOTS’. What do you understand by this term, ‘hotspot’?

A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with a significant reservoir of biodiversity that is under threat from humans. 

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. MADAGASCAR & THE INDIAN OCEAN ISLANDS Eight plant families, four bird families, and five primate families that live nowhere else on Earth.

2. GUINEAN FORESTS OF WEST AFRICA The lowland forests of West Africa are home to more than a quarter of Africa's mammals, including more than 20 species of

primates. Logging is endangering this ecosystem.

3. CAUCASUSThe deserts, savannas, arid woodlands, and forests that comprise the Caucasus hotspot contain a large number of endemic plant species.

4. HIMALAYA The hotspot is home to important populations of numerous large birds and mammals, including vultures, tigers, elephants, rhinos and wild water buffalo.

5. JAPANAbout a quarter of the vertebrate species occurring in this hotspot are endemic, including the Critically Endangered Okinawa woodpecker and the Japanese macaque, the famous “snow monkeys” that are the most northerly-living non-human primates

in the world.

6. MEDITERRANEAN BASIN The flora of the Mediterranean Basin is dramatic. Its 22,500 endemic vascular plant species are more than four times the number found in all the rest of Europe; the hotspot also supports many endemic reptile species.

7. CARIBBEAN ISLANDS The Caribbean Islands support exceptionally diverse ecosystems, ranging from montane cloud forests to cactus scrublands, which have been devastated by deforestation and encroachment

8. MADREAN PINE-OAK WOODLANDS A quarter of all Mexico's plant species are found here, many of them found nowhere else on Earth.

9. ATLANTIC FOREST The Atlantic Forest of tropical South America boasts 20,000 plant species, 40 percent of which are endemic. Yet, less than

10 percent of the forest remains.

10. TROPICAL ANDES One of the richest and most diverse regions on Earth, about 5% of all vascular plant species are endemic to the Tropical Andes region.

Now go to www.biodiversityhotspots.org. Here you will find some useful definitions and some quite detailed descriptions of the world’s hotspots. Select any one of the hotspots from the drop-down menu and make a written summary:

WALLACEA 

This hotspot is located in the Islands of Indonesia. The Flora and Fauna there is so varied that protected areas are needed to conserve it. Wallacea has bird endemism which is only in 2 hotspots in the Tropical Andes. It also has the komodo dragon which is the largest lizard in the world. Other important species present are flowers, Padar and Rinca. Alfred Russel Wallace, An English explorer, discovered in the 19th century the importance of Wallacea´s Flora and Fauna. Wallacea is conserved by the Indonesian government.

John Osborne

February 2014