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♤ Biodiversity hot spot concept was put forth by Norman Myers in 1988
♤ To qualify as a hot spot, a region must meet two strict criteria:
a. Species endemism - it must contain at least 1,500 species of vascular plants (> 0.5% of the world’s total) as endemics, and
b. Degree of threat - it has to have lost at least 70% of its original habitat.
♤ Each biodiversity hot spot represents a remarkable universe of extraordinary floral and faunal endemic-ity struggling to survive in rapidly shrinking ecosystems.
♤ Over 50 percent of the world’s plant species and 42 percent of all terrestrial vertebrate species are
endemic to the 35 biodiversity hot spots.