Available at BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS Simone Neethling Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology University of the Western Cape

Introduction  Observed and predicted loss of biodiversity over the years = sixth extinction  Loss of biodiversity permanent 14  Conservation biology therefore very important  Identification of areas under sever threat of permanent loss  “Hotspots” origin

Evolution of the term: Hotspot  Norman Myers-first to develop concept 15  Geographical regions that deserved conservation priority  High numbers of endemic (rare) species in relatively small areas  First 10 hotspots were identified-all tropical rainforest, plants were indicators for diversity 15  Myers then added a further 8 hotspots (Mediterranean-type ecosystems added) 14  High species number or high degree of endemism or under huge threat or combination of factors 15

Evolution of the term:Hotspot (Cont.)  A consequent analysis resulted in 25 hotspots 14  A minimum number of plant species was required to be analyzed  Two criteria:endemism and degree of threat  Not just “pristine” vegetation included- fragmented vegetation included  Mammal, bird, reptile and amphibian endemism and diversity patterns also analyzed  Hotspots covered much more diverse terrestrial ecosystems  A further 9 hotspots has been added but is currently still being peer-reviewed 7

The 34 Terrestrial Hotspots Biodiversity Hotspots Biodiversity Hotspots

The 34 Terrestrial Hotspots (Cont.) 1)Atlantic Forest 2) California Floristic Province 3)Cape Floristic Province 4)Caribbean Islands 5)Caucasus 6)Brazilian Cerrado 7)Central Chile 8)Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa 9)East Melanesian Islands 10)Eastern African Afromantane 11)Guinean Forests of West Africa 12)Himalayas 13)Horn of Africa 14)Indo-Burma 15)Irano-Anatolia 16)Japan 17)Madagascar and Indian Ocean Islands 18)Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands 19)Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany 20)Mediterranean Basin 21) Mesoamerica 22) Mountains of Central Asia 23)Hengduan Mountains of Southwest China 24)New Caledonia 25)New Zealand 26)Philippines 27) Polynesia-Micronesia 28)Southwest Australia 29) Succulent Karoo 30) Sundaland 31) Tropical Andes 32) Tumbès-Chocò-Magdalena 33) Wallacea 34) Western Ghats and Sri Lanka

The 11 Marine Hotspots  Major limitation to present hotspot analysis  Lack of marine realm-purely terrestrial based  Study of marine ecosystems based on coral reefs 16  Hotspots located entirely within tropics 19  Study presented not yet comprehensive 16  Research is still on going 16  Although many marine hotspots extend from terrestrial hotspots=extension

The 11 Marine Hotspots (Cont.)

1)Philippines 2)Sundaland Islands 3)Wallacea 4)Gulf of Guinea 5)Southern Mascarene Islands 6)Eastern South Africa 7)North Indian Ocean 8)Southern Japan, Taiwan and Southern China 9)Cape Verde Islands 10)Western Caribbean 11)Red Sea and Gulf of Aden

Tropical Regions  More specifically tropical forests-renowned for housing the most biologically diverse ecosystems 11  Occurs between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn  Share characteristics:climate, precipitation, canopy structure, complex symbiotic relationships  Stable climate 9  Canopy-provides array of niches 8  Holds up to 50% of planet’s species 10

Tropical Regions-High Diversity  “ Latitudinal gradient in species diversity”-increases from poles to equator 18  Hypotheses:energy/climate based hypotheses and historical/evolutionary base hypotheses 18  Energy/climate-species based–energy and climate stability hypothesis 18  Historical/evolutionary based-historical perturbation and effective evolutionary rate hypothesis 18  These hypotheses do however have critiques and need further research to be fully accepted 6  Other hypotheses do exist 18  This latitudinal gradient is also observed in the marine realm 17

High Concentration of Hotspots in Equatorial Regions  High diversity compared to temperate and polar regions- latitudinal gradient hypothesis 18  High degree of endemism in tropical regions 12  Restricted to relatively small land areas 12  Most tropical regions are under sever threat-mainly due to social and economical issues 12  Severe habitat loss and destruction 12  Tropical forests once covered 12% of Earth's surface-now reduced to a mere 5% (maybe even less) 10  Vanishing at disturbingly high rates 11  Therefore most of world’s hotspots found within tropical regions 12

Distribution of Endemic (rare) Terrestrial Species and Freshwater Fish-Plants  Tropical Andes Hotspot contains endemic plant species 7  Sundaland Hotspot also contains endemic plant species 7  Together these hotspots harbour nearly 14% of all vascular plants found on the planet 7  Cape Floral Kingdom contains the world’d greatest concentration of nontropical endemic plant species 1 otspots.org/xp/Hotspots/ biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/Hotspots

Distribution of Endemic (rare) Terrestrial Species and Freshwater Fish-Mammals  Sundaland hotspot contains the highest number of endemic mammals-172 species, 17 genera 7  Madagascar and Indian Ocean Islands hotspot houses 144 endemic mammals species- world's leader in endemic primates houses 5 endemic lemur families 7  Wallacea hotspot – 127 endemic mammal species 7biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/Hotspots

Distribution of Endemic (rare) Terrestrial Species and Freshwater Fish-Birds  Tropical Andes hotspot harbours 579 endemic bird species 7  This hotspot contains all or parts of 21 different Endemic Bird Areas 7  This high degree of endemism does not compare to any other area in the world 7  Wallacea hotspot –262 endemic bird species which is astonishing because of its relatively small land 1 biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/Hotspots

Distribution of Endemic (rare) Terrestrial Species and Freshwater Fish-Reptiles  Caribbean Islands hosts the the largest number of endemic reptiles-469 species 7  Two examples of entirely endemic genera (both snakes) include: Tropidophis sp.(all 26 species endemic) and Alsophis sp.(all 13 species endemic) 7  The Madagascar and Indian Ocean Islands harbours 367 reptile species and is a major centre of chameleon diversity 7 biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/Hotspots

Distribution of Endemic (rare) Terrestrial Species and Freshwater Fish-Amphibians and Freshwater Fish  The Tropical Andes hotspot is the most significant area in the world concerning amphibian diversity as it hosts 980 species of which 670 are endemic 7  The Mesoamerica hotspot contains 358 endemic amphibian species 7  The Eastern Afromontane hotspot, where the Great Rift lakes reside, is home to 617 endemic freshwater fish 7  The Indo-Burma hotspot houses 553 endemic freshwater fish species, 30 endemic genera and 1 endemic family 7

Threats  Social and economic threats=habitat loss and degradation 12  Major cause-exponential human population growth 12  Increase in foreign debt loads 12  Decrease funds available for conservation 12  Poverty 5  Over hunting and illegal pet trade 12

Threats (Cont.)  Human impact overwhelming 7,2,3  Pollution  Introduction of invasive alien species  Unsustainable use and management of biodiversity (commercial exploitation)  Climate change-global warming  Global warming most probably the most enveloping threat as it has the ability to affect areas out of range of humans 13  Future predictions state that hotspots could lose between 39-43% of biodiversity 13  Lack of efficient practical protection 14

Threats (Cont.)  Marine hotspots have specific threats 19  Destructive fishing methods  Over exploitation of fish stocks (unsustainable use)  Pollution from urban and agricultural runoff  Pollution from sediment logging  Live fish trade  Oil spills from tankers  Coastal and agricultural development

Conservation  Priority-identification of regions under severe threat of extinction which is why hotspots originated  Protection of areas through establishment of reserves, national parks, botanical gardens, heritage sites, wildlife refuges and ect. 7  Incentive measures are essential for conservation 4  Regulations and market based tools are also used 4  Increase in new conservation tools and conservation professionals promote action against biodiversity loss 7  Unique projects- Working for water 7  Ecotourism-mutually beneficial

References 1.Anon. Biodiversity Hotspots [Internet]. [Cited 2007 April 04] Available from: Biodiversity HotspotsBiodiversity Hotspots 2.Anon. Biodiversity-what is it and why is it being lost? [Internet]. [Cited 2007 April 04] Available from: ( 3.Anon. Forests and biodiversity [Internet]. [Cited 2007 April 04] Available from: ( 4.Anon. Incentive measures for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity [Internet]. [Cited 2007 April 04] Available from: ( 5.Anon. The links between biodiversity and poverty [Internet]. [Cited 2007 April 04] Available from: ( 6.Boyero L. Latitudinal Gradients in Biodiversity [Internet]. [Cited 2007 April 04] Available from: biodiversity.htmwww.ecology.info/gradients- biodiversity.htm

References (Cont.) 7.Brooks, T., De Silva, N., Foster, M., Hoffmann, M., Knox, D., Langhammer, P., Pilgrim, J., Ratledge, N., Sweeting, A. (eds). Biodiversity hotspots [Internet]. [Cited 2007 April 04] Available from: 8.Butler RA. Canopy Structure [Internet]. [Cited 2007 April 06] Available from: 9.Butler RA. Structure and Character [Internet]. [Cited 2007 April 06] Available from: 10.Butler RA. Tropical Rainforests [Internet]. [Cited 2007 April 06] Available from: 11.Gentry AH (1992) Tropical forest biodiversity: distributional patterns and their conservational significance. OIKOS 63: Kerr JT and Burkey TV (2002) Endemism, diversity and the threat of tropical moist forest extinctions. Biodiversity and Conservation 11: Malcolm JR, Liu C, Neilson RP, Hansen L and Hannah L (2006) Global Warming and Extinctions of Endemic Species from Biodiversity Hotspots. Conservation Biology 20(2):

References (Cont.) 14.Mittermeier RA, Myers N, Thomsen JB, da Fonseca GAB and Olivieri S (1998) Biodiversity Hotspots and Major Tropical Wilderness Areas: Approaches to Setting Conservation Priorities. Conservation Biology 12(3): Reid WV (1998) Biodiversity hotspots. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 13 (7): 275— Roberts CM, McClean CJ, Veron JEN, Hawkins JP, Allen GR, McAllister DE, Mittermeier CG, Schueler FW, Spalding M, Wells F, Vynne C and Werner TB (2002) Marine biodiversity hotspots and conservation priorities for tropical reefs. Science 295 (5558): 1280— Roy K, Jablonki D, Vaentine JW and Rosenberg G (1998) Marine latitudinal diversity: Tests of casual hypotheses. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci 95: Wikipedia Contributors. Latitudinal gradients in species diversity [Internet]. [Cited 2007 April 04] Available from: Wikipedia Wikipedia 19.Zubi T. Major Endangered Reef Regions [Internet]. [Cited 2007 April 04] Available from: