Biodiversity: Where's Hot and Where's Not

The continuing rapid loss of biological diversity is leading conservationists to sharpen their priorities and to target the limited funds available so as to ensure the survival of as many different species as possible. An increasingly popular approach, which has captured the imagination of the general public and policymakers alike, is the identification of biological hotspots-areas containing an exceptional concentration of biodiversity, measured by species richness, species endemism, number of threatened species, degree of habitat loss, or some surrogate for one or more of these methods.

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