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Biodiversity hotspot From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with a significant reservoir of biodiversity

that is under threat from humans. The concept of biodiversity hotspots was originated by Norman Myers in two articles in The Environmentalist (1988
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The Phanerozoic eon (the last 540 million years) marked a rapid growth in biodiversity via the Cambrian explosiona period during which nearly every phylum ofmulticellular organisms first appeared
[citation needed]

Species that are believed to have the same ancestors are grouped together, and this group is called a genus. A species can only belong to one genus that it was grouped into.
discuss] [dubious

. The next 400 million years included

The belief is best checked by a similarity of their DNA, but

repeated, massive biodiversity losses classified as mass extinction events. In the Carboniferous, rainforest collapse led to a great loss of plant and animal life.
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for practical reasons, other similar properties are used. For plants, similarities of flowers are used. Species may be given a scientific name, which is a two-part name; the first part of which is the generic name, the genus to which the species is assigned. In zoology this two-part name is formed by a complex mechanism, in which the second part is a formal name in its own right, and is called the specific name. This term is used only in zoology, never in botany. In botany the second part is just that, only the second part of the name of the species, and this is called the specific epithet; this term is sometimes used in zoology, but only informally (technically it is wrong). For example, Boa constrictor, which is commonly called by its binominal name, and is one of four species of the Boa genus. The first letter of the name is capitalized, and the second part has a lower case initial letter. Very often the two-part scientific name is written in italics, but this is not required.

The PermianTriassic

& 1990 ),

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extinction event, 251 million years ago, was the worst; vertebrate recovery took 30 million years.
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revised after thorough analysis by Myers and others in Hotspots: Earths Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions.
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The most recent,

the CretaceousTertiary extinction event, occurred 65 million years ago, and has often attracted more attention than others because it resulted in the extinction of the dinosaurs.
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To qualify as a biodiversity hotspot on Myers 2000 edition of the hotspot-map, a region must meet two strict criteria: it must contain at least 0.5% or 1,500 species of vascular plants as endemics, and it has to have lost at least 70% of its primary vegetation.
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The period since the emergence of humans has displayed an ongoing biodiversity reduction and an accompanying loss of genetic diversity. Named the Holocene extinction, the reduction is caused primarily by human impacts, particularly habitat destruction. Conversely, biodiversity impacts human health in a number of ways, both positively and negatively.
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Around the world, at least 25 areas qualify under this

definition, with nine others possible candidates. These sites support nearly 60% of the world's plant, bird, mammal, reptile, and amphibian species, with a very high share of endemic species. Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entireplanet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function ofclimate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions support fewer species. Rapid environmental changes typically cause mass extinctions. One estimate is that less than 1% of the species that have existed on Earth are extant.
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The United Nations designated 2011-2020 as the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity. n biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases, this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are often used, such as similarity of DNA, morphology or ecological niche. Presence of specific locally adapted traits may further subdivide species A usable definition of the word "species" and reliable methods of identifying particular species are essential for stating and testing biological theories and for measuring biodiversity, though other taxonomic levels such as families may be considered in broadscale studies.
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Extinct species known only from fossils are

generally difficult to assign precise taxonomic rankings, which is why higher taxonomic levels such as families are often used for fossil-based studies.
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Since life began on Earth, five major mass extinctions and several minor events have led to large and sudden drops in biodiversity.

into subspecies.

The total number of non-bacterial species in the world has been estimated at 8.7 million,
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Through evolution, new species arise through the process of speciationwhere new varieties of organisms arise and thrive when they are able to find and exploit an ecological nicheand species become extinct when they are no longer able to survive in changing conditions or against superior competition. The relationship between animals and their ecological niches has

with previous estimates ranging from

two million to 100 million.

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Only a few of the many species at risk of extinction actually make it to the lists and obtainlegal protection like Pandas. Many more species become extinct, or potentially will become extinct, without [citation needed gaining public notice.

"Extinct" redirects here. For other uses, see Extinct (disambiguation). For other uses, see Extinction (disambiguation).

Bengal Tiger

been firmly established.

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A typical species becomes extinct within


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Panda Bear

10 million years of its first appearance,

although some species,

called living fossils, survive virtually unchanged for hundreds of millions of years. Most extinctions have occurred naturally, prior to Homo sapienswalking on Earth: it is estimated that 99.9% of all species that have ever existed are now extinct.
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Rhinoceros

Mass extinctions are relatively rare events; however, isolated extinctions are quite common. Only recently have extinctions been recorded and scientists have become alarmed at the high rates of recent extinctions.
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Elephants

Jaguar

Most species that become extinct are

never scientifically documented. Some scientists estimate that up to half of presently existing species may become extinct by The Dodo of Mauritius, shown here in a 1651 illustration by Jan Savery, is an often-cited example of modern extinction.
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Silver back Gorilla

2100.

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It is difficult to estimate the trajectory that biodiversity

might have taken without human impact but scientists at the University of Bristol estimate that biodiversity might increase

In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms (taxon), normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point. Because a species' potential range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "re-appears" (typically in the fossil record) after a period of apparent absence.

exponentially without human influence.

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An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinctbecause it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has calculated the percentage of endangered species as 40 percent of all organisms based on the sample of species that have been [citation needed] evaluated through 2006. Many nations have laws offering protection to conservation reliant species: for example, forbidding hunting, restricting land development or creating preserves.

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