Question

What is a biodiversity hot spot?

Short answer

Biodiversity hot spot is the name given to a small area that supports a large number of endemic species and many endangered and threatened species. It has a high level of biodiversity that is at threat due to human disturbance.

Step-by-step solution

Step 1: Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the variety of living forms and involves all their interaction. It is found at several levels that start with genes and then to species, community, and the entire ecosystem.It gives an idea of how species are evolved over millions of years.

Step 2: Endemic species

Endemic species are native to geographical locations, which can be an island, nation, continent, and other zones having a defined boundary. If an organism is indigenous to an area, but it can be found in other areas also, it cannot be called an endemic species.

For example, the Cape sugarbird is an endemic species found in southwestern South Africa.

Step 3: Biodiversity hot spot

A biodiversity hot spot is a small area or geographical region that has a higher amount of biodiversity by containing numerous endemic species and is threatened with degradation.

The degradation causes a large number of threatened and endangered species in these biodiversity hot spots. There are 25 biodiversity hot spots around the world. It supports 60 percent of the plants, reptiles, birds, mammals, and amphibian species of the world.