An Update of Existing Hotspots

In our last review of the hotspots (Mittermeier et al. 1999; Myers et al. 2000), we presented information on 25 hotspots. However, we also noted that there were a number of regions that were possible hotspot candidates which could not be included due to a lack of adequate information at that time. In this reanalysis of the hotspots, which began in 2000, we have assessed a number of these areas and have found that some of them qualify for hotspot status. In addition, we have reassessed and updated the previously defined 25 hotspots, providing new data and making minor changes in the borders of several. For the most part, however, 23 of them have remained the same.

In the case of the remaining two hotspots included in Mittermeier et al. (1999) and Myers et al. (2000), we have made changes significant enough to warrant their inclusion as new chapters. The original Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests of Tanzania and Kenya Hotspot has undergone major changes. The Coastal Forests have been separated out as a new hotspot and extended considerably to the north into northern Kenya and Somalia, and south into southern Mozambique. The Eastern Arc Mountains, which on their own do not qualify as a hotspot, have now been included in a more extensive Eastern Afromontane Hotspot based on botanical affinities first recognized by White (1983) in his classic work on the botany of Africa. This new hotspot also incorporates the Southern Rift, the Albertine Rift, and the Ethiopian Highlands.

The original Indo-Burma Hotspot also warranted redefinition to recognize the two distinct, although overlapping, regions that it contained. Consequently, it, too, was modified to such an extent that the two areas had to be separated as new hotspots. The bulk of this hotspot, including Myanmar (Burma), Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, extreme northern Malaysia north of the Kangar-Pattani Line, the karst region of extreme southeastern China, and the island of Hainan, remains in what we continue to call the Indo-Burma Hotspot. Areas to the northwest in northeast India, Bhutan, Nepal, and southwestern China have now been included in a new Himalaya Hotspot, which also extends further to the west into Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan than did the Himalayan section of the original Indo-Burma Hotspot.

For the other 23 original hotspots, we present here a review of their geographic extent, with details of minor changes in borders, a small map, their principal distinguishing characteristics, their biodiversity, threats to their survival, and a discussion of conservation measures already in place — with particular emphasis on protected area coverage. In particular, we provide updated information on their species richness and endemism in vascular plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians; add new information on freshwater fishes; and, for the first time, also include data on endemism at the genus and family levels. This data is combined with data on the new hotspots and presented in the text and tables of the Introduction.

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