Conserving the hottest of the hotspots

Abstract

The biologist Norman Myers coined the term ‘hotspot’ to denote 25 diminutive regions of the earth that are both marvelous centers of biodiversity and alarmingly imperiled by human activities. Concentrated strongly but not exclusively in the tropics, these hotspots sustain up to half of the planet’s biological diversity in just over 1% of its land area. Few hotspots are hotter than the Brazilian Atlantic forest. This coastal and subcoastal strip of forest in southeastern Brazil contains roughly 20,000 plant species, more than 1400 species of terrestrial vertebrates, and thousands of invertebrate species, many of which are regionally or locally endemic. The Atlantic forest is also host to a diverse array of habitats, including rainforests spanning a broad range of latitudes and elevations as well as rare ecosystems such as restingas, swamps, inselbergs, dry forests, and high-altitude campos, most of which sustain ecologically specialized biota.