What are Biodiversity Hotspots?

Biodiversity hotspots are biologically rich that is under threat from human activity. The defining features of such areas are high plant endemism and significant habitat loss.

Tropical biodiversity is exceptionally rich, more so when several niches have evolved across a range of bio-tones that are transition zones between two kinds of ecosystems. The relatively large stretch of the Western Ghats that spans 1,600 kilometres, is one of the top ten most important hotpots across the world.

The topographic variations, antecedent climatic regimes and present-day micro-climatic variations, have allowed a profusion of forest types to flourish. The resultant biodiversity, is prone to high specialization and adaptation to their environment. This specialization, compounded with landmass separation and biological isolation have led to a high level of endemism in the Western Ghats.

Biodiversity hotspots by definition are:

• Those areas in the world that contain at least 1,500 species of vascular plants as endemics. (These constitute greater than 0.5 percent of the world’ total vascular plants)
• These sites, at a global level support nearly 60% of the world’s plant, bird, animal, reptile and amphibian species with a high share of endemic species.
• These sites are threatened and have lost at least 70% of their natural, primary habitat.

This means that the ecosystem has faced severe adversity, and the threat still holds sway. Over 70% of the former extent has been lost, and may signify that the biodiversity has paid a similar toll.

This is what makes biodiversity hotspots most significant from the conservation point of view. Being severely threatened areas, representing 60% of the total global biodiversity, it is imperative that effective, comprehensive conservation strategies are designed to reverse this spiraling trend towards extinction.