Write short notes on the following.
Hot spots of biodiversity
A Biodiversity Hotspot is a region with a significant reservoir of plants, animals, and other life that is under threat from humans. These areas are with very high levels of species richness and high degree of endemism (that is, species confined to that region and not found anywhere else.
Around the world, 35 areas qualify as hotspots. Three of these hotspots – Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, Indo-Burma and Himalaya – cover our country’s exceptionally high biodiversity regions. Although all the biodiversity hotspots put together cover less than 2 percent of the earth’s land area, the number of species they collectively harbour is extremely high and strict protection of these hotspots could reduce the ongoing mass extinctions by almost 30 per cent.