A biodiversity hotspot is a geographic area containing at least 1,500 endemic plant species, but which has already lost at least 70% of species in their original state. The total area of ​​ hot spots is only 2.3% of the surface of the Earth. At present, areas 34 are hot spots. More than 50% of plant species and 42% of terrestrial vertebrate species live in these hot spots.

As you can see there a lot of hot spots, more precisely 34. They are concentrated in the southern hemisphere of the planet

We will look at four hot spots among the 34 identified to understand what are the characteristics of these areas. 4 hot spots are: New Caledonia, Central America, Tropical Andes, the Mediterranean Basin New Caledonia Tropical Andes the Mediterranean Basin Central America

Taxons Total number of species described worldwide Vascular plants25000 Land mammals4596 Birds9950 Reptiles7900 Amphibians4780 Freshwater fish10000 Total number of described species in the world for 6 groups of beings living

Metropolitan France Taxon number species % From total described species % Of species endemic Vascular plants105074,20,58 Land mammals1663,60 Birds5395,411 Reptiles400,50 Amphibians320,663 Freshwater fish940,949,5 Number of identified species and endemic in France 6 for these taxa

Taxon number species % From total described species % Of species endemic Vascular plants32701,374,4 Land mammals90,1966,7 Birds1051,0521,9 Reptiles700,8888,6 Amphibians000 Freshwater fish850,8510,6

Taxon number species % From total described species % Of species endemic Vascular plants17006,817,3 Land mammals4409,5715 Birds111311,1618,7 Reptiles6928,7534,7 Amphibians55511,6164,5 Freshwater fish5095,0966,8

Taxon number species % From total described species % Of species endemic Vascular plants Land mammals57012,4013,2 Birds172417,2933,6 Reptiles6928,7534,7 Amphibians55511,6164,5 Freshwater fish5098,0966,8

Taxon number species % From total described species % Of species endemic Vascular plants Land mammals2264,911,1 Birds4894,95,1 Reptiles2302,9133,5 Amphibians791,6534,2 Freshwater fish2162,1629,2

These areas have high biodiversity and high levels of endemism. It means that we encounter in these areas some species that is not found in other places. This can justify that the priority is to protect these areas.

Biodiversity is not evenly distributed across Earth. Some areas provide an habitat on small areas a high proportion terrestrial biodiversity. These particularly sensitive areas are called hot spots.