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Journal of Mammalogy, 83(2):630 633, 2002
Mittermeier, R. A., N. Myers, and C. G.
Mittermeier (eds.). 1999. HOTSPOTS: EARTH’S
BIOLOGICALLY RICHEST AND MOST ENDANGERED
TERRESTRIAL ECOREGIONS. CEMAX, S.A., Mexico City, 430 pp. ISBN 968-6397-58-2, price
(hardcover), US$65.00.
How much biodiversity is the world in danger
of losing? Even for scientists, this question is
difficult to answer because some 4–40 million
species are unknown and unmonitored, and other elements of biodiversity such as genes, populations, communities, and habitats are equally
hard to assess. There is no doubt that our planet’s forests are under attack, and indeed about
200 million ha were lost between 1980 and 1995
Vol. 83, No. 2
alone—an area larger than Mexico (Bryant et al.
1997). In this murky situation, we have no
choice except to protect forests that are known
to harbor a maximum diversity of species.
Hotspots is timely, and it highlights the ongoing struggle to save endangered terrestrial
habitats that are home to numerous endemic species. The editors have compiled data with assistance from 100 specialists, 72 of whom are contributors to this volume. One drawback of the
book is that it would have been much easier for
readers to browse specific topics if the editors
had provided a subject index. Common names
provided in the text do not always coincide with
those suggested by Wilson and Cole (2000), but
otherwise, Hotspots is well written and easily
readable for both professional and nonprofessional biologists.
This book highlights 25 biodiversity hotspots
that cover about 2% of Earth’s land surface, yet
represent 50% of all terrestrial species diversity.
Norman Myers is one of the few visionaries who
alerted the world to the loss of biodiversity by
coining the catch phrase ‘‘biodiversity hotspots.’’ Over a decade ago, he identified 10 tropical rain forest hotspots that contain an estimated
13% of all plant diversity in just 0.2% of our
planet’s land area (Myers 1988). The influence
of Myers’ work is fundamental to this book; indeed, a recent paper of his provides a synopsis
of this book (Myers et al. 2000).
Endemism in vascular plants is the main criterion for identifying hotspots because each hotspot harbors about 2,500 species of endemic
vascular plants or 1% of the total known diversity. The degree of threat was determined by the
percentage (under 25%) of natural habitat that it
retained in its original state. The tropical rain
forest hotspots generally have very high vertebrate diversity with high levels of endemism,
mirroring global trends of plant diversity and endemism. In contrast, temperate and drier tropical
hotspots have high plant diversity but low vertebrate diversity and endemism.
Hotspots is divided into 25 chapters including
a foreword from the Hollywood legend, Harrison Ford, who has donated US$5 million to protect the hotspots outlined in this book. The editors provide a brief introduction to hotspots, and
subsequent chapters follow the list of hotspots
cited in table 2 (p. 33) that starts from the Tropical Andes and ends in southwestern Australia.
Each chapter has a description of the region, de-
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tails on endemic flagship species, and outlines
ongoing threats to the habitat.
Mammalian diversity and endemism are listed
in 2 tables. Although various large mammals
have been included as flagship species in each
chapter, primates have been heavily emphasized,
perhaps reflecting the senior editor’s area of expertise. And although a quarter of all known
mammalian species belong to the Chiroptera,
Hotspots has generally ignored these nonglamorous true–flying mammals. Fruit bats are
known to be excellent seed dispersers, pollinators, and indicators of habitat diversity, but only
a few are included as flagship species.
The Tropical Andes Hotspot has the most impressive figure for vascular plants, claiming 45–
50,000 species or 15–17% of all the world’s species. The Peruvian yellow-tailed and Columbian
woolly monkey, night monkey, spectacled bear,
vicuna, jaguar, and the mountain tapir are among
the flagship mammals. Because of its unique
geographic position, the Mesoamerica Hotspot
has an extraordinary diversity of amphibians
with a total of 460 species of which 66.7% are
endemic, 2nd only to the Tropical Andes Hotspot. Flagship mammals of this region include
the spider monkey, howling monkey, squirrel
monkey, jaguar, and Baird’s tapir. The single
most important island in the Caribbean Hotspot
is Cuba, with 6,505 vascular plants; 50% of
these are endemic, representing fully 46% of endemic plants for the entire hotspot. The ChocóDarién Western Ecuador Hotspot runs from Panama through Colombia and western Ecuador;
this vast area covers wet, moist, and dry forest
zones with immense vertebrate endemism. The
flagship mammals of this region include cottontop and Geoffrey’s tamarins, mantled howler,
and Baird’s tapir. The Galapagos Islands (a
World Heritage site) has also been included, not
as a hotspot but as a site worthy of ‘‘honorable
mention’’ that is treated separately in a box (pp.
132–133). Brazil, which is one of the richest
biodiversity countries, claims 2 hotspots: the Atlantic Forest and the Brazilian Cerrado; both are
known for endemism and species rarity. The
mammalian species highlighted in the Atlantic
Forest Hotspot are primarily primates because
Brazil leads the world in primate diversity, with
16 genera and 77 species. Aside from the primates, the flagship species include the bristlespined rat and the maned three-toed sloth. The
Central Chile Hotspot covers 40% of the land
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area of continental Chile and boasts a percentage
of endemic vascular plants similar to that of the
California Floristic Province Hotspot. The flagship mammals of this region include the Andean
deer or huemul and the unusual rodent, chinchilla.
The California Floristic Province Hotspot is
one of the few hotspots within the borders of a
developed country. About 70% of California’s
land area is included within this hotspot that harbors 4,426 species of higher plants with 48%
endemism. Some of the better-known flagship
species of this area include the grizzly bear, California condor, Roosevelt’s and tule elk, and the
northern spotted owl. Continental Africa including the island of Madagascar has a total of 5
hotspots. The most striking feature of Madagascar is endemism rather than total diversity; of
the estimated 10–12,000 flowering plants, over
80% are endemic. Primates are again the main
flagship species that include pygmy mouse lemur, golden bamboo lemur indri, diademed and
Tattersall’s sifaka, and the aye-aye. The Eastern
Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests Hotspot covers Tanzania and Kenya that are home to flagship mammals such as the Tana River and Kirk’s
red colobus monkey, Tana River and Sanje mangabey, Zanzibar galago, Ader’s duiker, Pemba
fruit bat, and the golden-rumped elephant shrew.
The Cape Floristic Province Hotspot, lying entirely within the borders of South Africa, has
8,200 species of higher plants with 69% endemism. The Cape dune mole rat, Cape golden
mole, cape sugarbird, orange-breasted sunbird,
and 5 species of tortoises have been included in
the list of flagship species. The Succulent Karoo
Hotspot is the only hotspot that is entirely arid;
4 of the 78 mammal species found here are endemic. Although the Guinean Forests Hotspot is
quite high in mammal diversity with an estimated 551 species, it has a low diversity of vascular plants (9,000 species), only about one-fifth
of the diversity of the Andes Hotspot. Flagship
mammals include Diana monkey, black and
white colobus monkey, olive colobus monkey,
elephant, pygmy hippopotamus, zebra duiker,
and Jentink’s duiker.
The Mediterranean Basin is a huge hotspot
that stretches from Portugal to Jordan and from
the Canary Islands to northern Italy. A total of
184 species of land mammals occur there, of
which 46 are endemic, including flagship species such as the Barbary macaque, Corsican red
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deer, brown bear, and leopard. The Mediterranean monk seal, though a marine species, uses
beaches here and is included as a flagship species. The Caucasus Hotspot is a recent addition
to the list and has an estimated 152 species of
mammals, 32 of which are endemic.
Six Hotspots—Sundaland, Wallacea, Philippines, Indo-Burma, South-Central China, Western Ghats, and Sri Lanka—cover parts of South
and Southeast Asia. The biodiversity of the Sundaland and Wallacea Hotspots has attracted early
explorers and naturalists for centuries; Alfred
Russel Wallace was fascinated with the wildlife
there, noting that ‘‘the birds of New Guinea offer the greatest possible contrast to the Mammalia, since they are more numerous, more
beautiful and afford more new, curious and elegant forms than those of any other island on
the globe’’ (Wallace 1869). The Sundaland Hotspot covers the western half of the Indo-Malayan archipelago and has about 328 species of
mammals, 35% of which are endemic. The flagship mammals are orangutan, proboscis monkey,
Mentawai gibbon, Mentawai pigtail macaque,
Mentawai leaf monkey, and both Javan and Sumatran rhinos. The Wallacea Hotspot, on the
other hand, has fewer species of mammals (total
201) but higher endemism (61.2%). The flagship
species of this region include babirusa, Komodo
dragon, anoa, and a few species of Sulawesi macaques and tarsiers. The endemism of mammalian fauna in the Philippine Hotspot ranks 5th in
the world. About 329 species of mammals have
been recorded for the Indo-Burma Hotspot,
which include newly discovered species such as
the saola and the giant muntiac deer. The rare
mammalian species of the South-Central China
Hotspot are the giant panda, snub-nosed and
golden monkeys, takin, Bailey’s goral, musk and
white-lipped deer, and snow leopard. Some of
the popular flagship mammals of the Western
Ghats and Sri Lanka Hotspot include the Asian
elephant, Bengal tiger, Nilgiri tahr, lion-tail macaque, Nilgiri langur, purple-faced langur, and
slender loris.
The New Caledonia Hotspot is one of the
smallest, but it has very high endemism of
plants; of 3,322 species, 77% are endemic.
Twenty-two of the 116 species of the birds that
breed in this hotspot are endemic and considered
high priority for conservation by BirdLife International. The New Zealand Hotspot was previously ignored but was included in the recent
Vol. 83, No. 2
analysis because of its high endemism (81%) in
vascular plants. The Polynesia–Micronesia Hotspot is composed of several small islands with
no primates, and the native terrestrial mammalian fauna consists entirely of bats; moreover, of
the 16 known bat species, 56% are endemic. Additionally, the marine mammal diversity, though
not a priority for this book, is noted for its richness, with 35 species of cetaceans, monk, leopard, and fur seals, and a resident population of
dugong. The Southwest Australia Hotspot also
has high endemism in plants (79.2%) but low
diversity in terrestrial mammals (54 species).
Across all sites considered, the Caribbean,
Philippines, and Madagascar are considered the
highest priority hotspots. Madagascar and the
Caribbean alone are among the top 5 hotspots in
terms of endemic species of flora and fauna, exceeding 2% of global diversity, and the Philippines is in the next 4 on this privileged list.
However, these areas have lost alarming
amounts of natural forests in recent years (table
2) as a result of habitat destruction. Besides, several species of birds have gone extinct in hotspots over the last 2 centuries (table 50). By using the number of endemic plant species as a
principal criterion, the hotspot approach applied
in this book tends to favor the tropics at the expense of other, less-known regions, which may
also possess a diversity of species. It does not
mean that other areas that are not included in
the hotspots should be ignored, and indeed, every country in the world must attempt to protect
its own biodiversity.
The majority of the biodiversity hotspots are
located in countries where poverty is rampant,
and this frustrates attempts to preserve threatened habitats. Thus, the threat to biodiversity
loss is real. The global human population
reached 6.1 billion in 2000, an increase of 77
million over 1999. The mean human density in
biological hotspots is 73 people/km2, which is
71% greater than the global mean density (Cincotta et al. 2000). The Western Ghats and Sri
Lanka Hotspots are the most densely populated
(341 people/km2). The combination of rapidly
expanding populations existing in abject poverty
in biodiversity hotspots may lead to social disorder, further frustrating attempts to preserve
biodiversity. The Global Environmental Facility,
which emerged from the 1992 Earth Summit organized by the United Nations in Rio de Janeiro,
has cofinanced $5 billion over the last 6 years,
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of which 70% has gone to biodiversity conservation projects worldwide in addition to the involvement of several multilateral development
banks in biodiversity-related investments. Although this may make life comfortable for conservationists and NGOs, will it eliminate poverty among the marginalized people who live in
hotspots? When people are socially healthy,
when they have hope for their future, only then
will the future of biodiversity be secured in hotspots.
In summary, the editors have synthesized data
on the identification and conservation of global
terrestrial biodiversity hotspot resources. The
book has ample numbers of large photographs
of endangered fauna, flora, and habitat, and
these are well presented with good-quality printing. There is a list of contributors at the end.
References are thoroughly grouped at the end of
the book and are generous. This book is an addition to the conservation biology literature and
will be a fine reference for all university libraries. The cost is actually modest, considering its
enormous size. I recommend this book to all
who are concerned about the conservation and
management of global biodiversity resources.—
GOVINDASAMY AGORAMOORTHY, Department of
Biological Sciences, National Sun Yat-sen University, P.O. Box 59-157, Kaohsiung 80424,
Taiwan (email: [email protected]).
LITERATURE CITED
BRYANT, D., D. NIELSON, AND L. TANGLEY. 1997. The
last frontier forests: ecosystems and economics on
the edge. World Resources Institute, Washington,
D.C.
CINCOTTA, R. P., J. WISNEWSKI, AND R. ENGELMAN.
2000. Human population in the biodiversity hotspots. Nature 404:990–992.
MYERS, N. R. 1988. The threatened biotas: hotspots in
tropical forests. The Environmentalist 8:1–20.
MYERS, N., R. A. MITTERMEIER, C. G. MITTERMEIER,
G. A. B. DA FONSECA, AND J. KENT. 2000. Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature
403:853–858.
WALLACE, A. R. 1869. The Malay Archipelago. Macmillan and Company, London, United Kingdom.
WILSON, D. E., AND F. R. COLE. 2000. Common names
of mammals of the world. Smithsonian Institution
Press, Washington, D.C.
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