Biodiversity hotspots (Conservation International, 2016)

Version 2016.1. The biodiversity hotspots are regions known to hold especially high numbers of species found nowhere else, yet their remaining habitat combined covers a little more than two percent of Earth's land surface. According to the criteria developed by Myers et al. (2000), a hotspot must meet two thresholds in order to qualify: 1) it must have at least 1500 endemic, native vascular plant species, and 2) it must have already lost at least 70% of its primary, native vegetation. In the updated analysis, Mittermeier et al. (2004) recognize 34 hotspots which together hold 50% of the world's plant species and 42% of all terrestrial vertebrates as endemics. As evidence of their urgency for global conservation, hotspots also hold exceptionally high numbers of threatened vertebrates, including 50% of threatened mammals, 73% of threatened birds and 79% of threatened amphibians as endemics. There are an estimated two billion people living in the hotspots, with 300 million people within less than 10 km of existing protected areas. PURPOSE OF THE DATASET: To show the location and extent of the 35 biodiversity hotspots (highly threatened biogeographic regions with high-biodiversity endemism), as defined by Mittermeier et al. (2011). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The ecoregional classification of the World Wildlife Fund-U.S. is the most widely-used bioregional classification system for global scale bioregionalization (Wikramanayake et al. 2002). In order to facilitate analysis, interoperability, and collaboration, we have gone to considerable lengths to ensure that the boundaries of hotspots correspond directly to those of the World Wildlife Fund-U.S. ecoregions (Olson et al. 2001). Thus, our calculations of hotspot extents are based on ecoregional data. In total, the hotspots incorporate 374 ecoregions, 43% of the total. The only significant exceptions to the match between hotspots and ecoregions are in three cases where recent maps update ecoregional boundaries: the Albertine Rift (Plumptre et al. 2003); Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany (van Wyk & Smith 2001); and the Caucasus (Krever et al. 2001). "Hotspots Revisited 2011", Conservation International 2012.