Hotspots of Marine Biodiversity

Abstract

First used to prioritize terrestrial sites with exceptional concentrations of species, exceptional levels of endemism, under exceptional degrees of threat, the term biodiversity hotspots was extended to the marine realm in 2002. Since then there have been 18 global scale studies of marine biodiversity hotspots. The data and criteria used to identify hotspots varies within the literature. However, most research highlighted the same areas as hotspots of marine biodiversity. Species richness generally peaked in Australia, South East Asia through to Japan, South Asia, South East Africa, the Caribbean and South East United States. Centers of endemism are identified in South Africa, the East and West Coasts of Australia and isolated areas such as Hawaii, Easter Island, New Zealand, and Antarctica. Hotspots of both high species richness and high species endemism are located in the West Caribbean, South Madagascar, Chagos Islands, Maldives, Lakshadweep, Sri Lanka, South Japan, East China Sea including Taiwan, Coral Triangle, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and North East and North West Australia. Although protecting marine hotspots should be prioritized in order to protect ocean biodiversity, the distribution of species richness varies between taxa, and many centers of endemism are distinct from areas of high species richness. Therefore, protecting marine biodiversity hotspots does not represent a comprehensive strategy to represent and protect all marine life. Moreover, only four studies acknowledge the importance of protecting IUCN threatened species, yet those species are at the highest risk of extinction. Only by protecting hotspots of species richness, hotspots of endemism and threatened species can we reduce the risk of species extinction, support the recovery of marine species and protect marine biodiversity.