Nature -生物多样性热点区域Nature -生物多样性热点区域.pdfVIP

articles Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities Norman Myers*, Russell A. Mittermeier2, Cristina G. Mittermeier2, Gustavo A. B. da Fonseca3 Jennifer Kent§ * Green College, Oxford University, Upper Meadow, Old Road, Headington, Oxford OX3 8SZ, UK 2 Conservation International, 2501 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20037, USA 3 Centre for Applied Biodiversity Science, Conservation International, 2501 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20037, USA § 35 Dorchester Close, Headington, Oxford OX3 8SS, UK ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Conservationists are far from able to assist all species under threat, if only for lack of funding. This places a premium on priorities: how can we support the most species at the least cost? One way is to identify `biodiversity hotspots where exceptional concentrations of endemic species are undergoing exceptional loss of habitat. As many as 44% of all species of vascular plants and 35% of all species in four vertebrate groups are con?ned to 25 hotspots comprising only 1.4% of the land surface of the Earth. This opens the way for a `silver bullet strategy on the part of conservation planners, focusing on these hotspots in proportion to their share of the worlds species at risk. The number of species threatened with extinction far outstrips populations and even ecological processes are not important mani- available conservation resources, and the situation looks set to festations of biodiversity, but they do not belong in this assessment. become rapidly worse1±4. This places a premium on identifying There are other types of hotspot10,11, featuring richness of, for priorities. How can we protect the most species