This Dataset contains data for global biodiversity hotspots updated as of 25 April 2016. Added North American Coastal Plains hotspot (Noss, R.F., Platt, W.J., Sorrie, B.A., Weakley, A.S., Means, D.B., Costanza, J., and Peet, R.K. (2015). How global biodiversity hotspots may go unrecognized: lessons from the North American Coastal Plain. Diversity and Distributions, 21, 236–244.) Hotspot boundary modified to remove overlap with Mesoamerica and Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands hotspots.
There are currently 36 recognized biodiversity hotspots. These are Earth’s most biologically rich—yet threatened—terrestrial regions.
To qualify as a biodiversity hotspot, an area must meet two strict criteria:
1. Contain at least 1,500 species of vascular plants found nowhere else on Earth (known as "endemic" species).
2. Have lost at least 70 percent of its primary native vegetation.
Many of the biodiversity hotspots exceed the two criteria. For example, both the Sundaland Hotspot in Southeast Asia and the Tropical Andes Hotspot in South America have about 15,000 endemic plant species. The loss of vegetation in some hotspots has reached a startling 95 percent.