The Earth’s
biologically richest
and most threatened places, hotspots are areas with high endemism,
harboring many species found nowhere else.
Conservation International
(
CI) identifies
34
hotspots
worldwide where 75 percent of the planet’s most threatened mammals, birds, and
amphibians survive within habitat covering just 2.3 percent of the Earth’s surface.
Brazil
is represented by two of its six
biomes
in the CI biodiversity hotspot list: The
Atlantic
Rainforest
/ (
Mata Atlāntica)
and the
Cerrado.
With approximately 20.000 plant species (8.000 endemic) and 2.300 mammals, birds,
reptiles, amphibians and freshwater fishes
(725 endemic), the Atlantic Rainforest is among the
top 5
biodiversity hotspots
in terms of number of species and in terms of endemism.
Particularly impressive is the density of biodiversity in this biome.
A
biomap
of the
University of Bonn
from 1999 shows more than 5.000
vascular plant
species per 10.000 sqkm in the
tropical rainforests
of Brazil“s southeast Atlantic coast.
According to
UNEP - WCMC,
more than 450
woody plant
species per hectare can be found in some spots of the Atlantic Rainforest
Southeast Reserves
World Heritage Site
(larger than in the
Amazon Rainforest).
