Table of Contents
1 Overview
2 Unique and Threatened Biodiversity
2.1 Plants
2.2 Vertebrates
2.2.1 Birds
2.2.2 Mammals
2.2.3 Reptiles
2.2.4 Amphibians
2.2.5 Freshwater Fishes
3 Human Impacts
4 Conservation Action and Protected Areas
5 Further Reading
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Last Updated: August 22, 2008
Overview
Map of Southwest Australia. (Source: CI/ CABS)
The Southwest Australia Hotspot occupies an area of about 356,717 km2 on the southwestern tip of Australia, in the state of Western Australia. As defined, this hotspot comprises the Southwest Botanical Province, but excludes the neighboring Southwestern Interzone. This hotspot is one of five Mediterranean-type ecosystems in the world. Most rain occurs in this area during the winter months, while the summers are characteristically dry. A broad coastal plain, 20-120 kilometers wide, grades into gently undulating uplands, with weathered granite, gneiss and lateritic formations. Further inland, rainfall decreases and the length of the dry season increases.
Native plants are well adapted to the nutrient-poor sandy and lateritic soils, which also support broadacre cropping and sheep grazing. Vegetation in the province is mainly woody, comprising forests, woodlands, shrublands, and heaths, but no grasslands. Principal vegetation types in this region are [[Eucalyptus]] woodlands, and the Eucalyptus-dominated 'mallee' shrubland. Kwongan is a term adapted from the Aboriginal Noongar language to cover the various Western Australian types of shrubland, comparable with the maquis, chaparral, and fynbos of other countries with Mediterranean-type systems. The principal structural types of Kwongan are thicket, scrub-heath, and heath, which together comprise about 30 percent of the original vegetation. A number of vegetation units are endemic, including some types of Eucalyptus forests and some forms of kwongan.
Unique and Threatened Biodiversity
Impressive plant endemism in Southwest Australia is attributed to millions of years of isolation from the rest of Australia by the country's vast central deserts. Extreme climate shifts and poor soils also promoted specialization of the region's flora.
Plants
Nearly 80 percent of the plant species in Southwest Australia are found nowhere else in the world, including many of the brightly-colored members of the genus Banksia. Banksia coccinea is pictured here. (Source: © Densey Clyne/Auscape)
Of more than 5,570 species of vascular plants found here, nearly 2,950 are endemic (about 53 percent). A significant number of genera are also endemic: 87 of 697 genera (12.5 percent) are found nowhere else in the world. Additionally, four families are endemic: Ecdeiocoleaceae, Emblingiaceae, Eremosynaceae and the monotypic Cephalotaceae, which is represented by the Albany pitcher plant (Cephalotus follicularis, VU), a carnivorous plant that traps insects in its modified leaves.
The ten largest families in the hotspot (including the Myrtaceae with 785 species, of which 92 percent are endemic, and Proteaceae with 684 species, with 96 percent endemism) comprise 61 percent of the flora. The number of species per genus averages eight, although the ten largest genera far exceed this figure: for example, the wattles of the genus Acacia (Mimosaceae, Fabales) possess 397 species (51 percent endemic), while the gums, or Eucalypts, of the genus Eucalyptus (Myrtaceae) possess 246 species (52 percent endemic) .
The Banksia plants of the family Proteaceae are among the most distinctive of the flowering plants found in this hotspot. These brilliantly-coloured flowering plants range in form from trees to small prostrate plants, one of which even has underground stems. Kangaroo paws (Anigozanthos spp., Haemadoraceae) are another brightly colored flower from the region: the unopened cluster of flowers are thought to resemble the paw of a kangaroo.
The region's flagship tree species include three eucalypts: jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata), marri (E. calophylla), and karri (E. diversicolor). While jarrah and marri grow to only about 20-30 meters in height, some karri forests have canopies up to 70 meters high, and individual trees may grow as high as 80 meters, ranking the karri as one of the tallest trees on earth.
Vertebrates
Birds
Over 280 native bird species occur in the region, 12 of which are endemic. The level of endemism is slightly higher than in other Mediterranean-type hotspots, and the region is considered an Endemic Bird Area (EBA) by BirdLife International.
The region is home to 22 parrot species (three endemics), including Carnaby's black-cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus latirostris, EN). The noisy scrub-bird (Atrichornis clamosus, VU), which earned its name through the loud vocalizations of its males, was presumed extinct until a small population was rediscovered in 1961. Several other bird species are near threatened or rapidly declining in the face of habitat loss, modification and fragmentation or inappropriate fire regimes.
Mammals
The quokka (Setonix brachyurus, VU) is a member of the kangaroo family (Macropodidae). This endemic marsupial faced extinction on mainland Australia, but it is currently making a come-back in some areas. The largest population is on Rottnest Island, off the coast of Southwest Australia. (Source: © John Cancalosi).
This hotspot is known to be the home of about 60 species of native mammal, 12 of which are endemic: among these is included the mouse-sized, nectarivorous honey possum (Tarsipes rostratus), the only representative of the family Tarsipedidae, and an animal that is confined to the coastal plain heaths. Another interesting endemic is the quokka (Setonix brachyurus, VU), a small, wallaby confined to three areas: the mainland, where it has been declining in numbers, and two small offshore islands (Rottnest Island and Bald Island), where it appears to be doing well.
Some mammal species have become de facto endemics to Southwest Australia through range contraction, having been extirpated from the rest of their natural ranges. The squirrel-sized numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus, VU), is one example- the marsupial equivalent to the anteaters of South America and also known by the names of walpurti or banded anteater, the numbat is the only member of the family Myrmecobiidae. It has also been chosen as one of the State symbols for Western Australia. Besides this species, four other threatened mammals are endemic to the hotspot, including the most threatened species in the hotspot, Gilbert’s potoroo (Potorous gilberti, CR), thought to be extinct until its rediscovery in the Two People’s Bay Nature Reserve in 1994, which is still the only place from which it is known to survive.
Reptiles
As might be expected in a country that leads the world in reptile diversity, there are a wide variety of reptile species in Southwest Australia. Of the 175 or so species present, about 30 (i.e. 15 percent) are endemic to the hotspot. The western swamp turtle (Pseudemydura umbrina, CR), a member of an endemic, monotypic, genus, is the most threatened reptile in Australia and is one of the 25 most threatened freshwater turtles in the world. The wild population stands at less than 100 and is now only found in one or two swamps near Perth.
Other threatened reptiles include the Yinnietharra rock dragon (Ctenophorus yinnietharra, VU), an understudied lizard species that is confined to two granitic rock outcrops in the region and does not inhabit outcrops of different origins, and the Lake Cronin snake (Echiopsis atriceps, VU), whose very limited range includes unprotected private lands.
Amphibians
There are more than 30 species of amphibian recorded for this hotspot, nearly two-thirds of which are endemic, including four species that represent endemic genera: the turtle frog (Myobatrachus gouldii), Nicholl's toadlet (Metacrinia nichollsi), the sandhill frog (Arenophryne rotunda), and the harlequin frog (Spicospina flammocaerulea, VU). Besides the last-mentioned species, which was only described in 1997 and is known to have a limited area of occurrence, two other frog species are considered threatened, one of which, the yellow-bellied frog (Geocrinia vitellina, VU), is represented by six populations confined to a 6.3 km2 area east of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge.
Freshwater Fishes
The Southwest Australia hotspot has very little freshwater habitat, which leads to a low fish diversity. Thus, only about 20 species of native freshwater fish have been recorded in the area. However endemism is comparatively high among these species, with about half of these species being endemic (including three whole genera). The most remarkable of these species is the salamanderfish (Lepidogalaxias salamandroides), which is the only member of the hotspot’s single endemic family (Lepidogalaxiidae).
Human Impacts
The numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus, VU) is a marsupial 'anteater' that is the only member of its entire family. The species is now restricted to the hotspot, although it once had a much wider distribution. (Source: © John Cancalosi).
The greatest human impact in Southwest Australia has been the clearing of native vegetation for agriculture. Agricultural development began in 1829, with the arrival of the first European settlers to the region. However, because of the poor soils, development progressed slowly until the 1890s, when phosphate fertilizers were introduced. Today, most usable private land in the region is farmed, although it requires the application of phosphate, as well as zinc, copper, cobalt, and molybdenum. Because of the region's long dry seasons, bush fires have traditionally been used for hunting and clearing land. Although native plants are highly adapted to fire, the alteration or intensification of burning regimes can dramatically change the composition and condition of the natural vegetation.
One of the most serious current threats to the natural vegetation of Southwest Australia is the spread of root disease, or "jarrah dieback" caused by the root fungus Phytophthora cinnamomi. The disease was first noticed in the jarrah forests in 1940 but not identified until 1965. By that time, thousands of hectares of forest had been infected and killed. Root disease is now spreading to other habitats, including kwongan shrublands, and in particular Stirling Range National Park, where it has caused mortality among susceptible plants like the peculiar grass trees (Xanthorrhoea spp.) and members of the Proteaceae, especially the banksias (Banksia spp.).
Large-scale mining for bauxite is increasingly a threat to Southwest Australia's ecosystems; the region is one of the largest producers of alumina in the world. Open-pit mining destroys habitats and pollutes waterways. However, recent reclamation efforts have been successful at establishing native plants in abandoned mine pits, a technique that holds promise for land management in the region.
Introduced alien species, especially foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and feral cats (Felis 'sylvestris'), threaten native fauna and have caused major declines in species like the numbat. Land managers have successfully poisoned these alien species with sodium flouroacetate, also known as 'poison compound 1080'. Amazingly, native mammals have evolved a natural tolerance to the poison because the compound is naturally prevalent in the leaves of many native legumes.
Today, of the principal vegetation types found in the region, 89 percent of the Eucalyptus woodlands have been lost, while 50 percent of the Eucalypt-dominated mallee and 59 percent of the Kwongan heath formations have been cleared. In total, only 30 percent of the original vegetation remains in more-or-less pristine condition.
Conservation Action and Protected Areas
Karri forest in Western Australia. The karri (Eucalyptus diversicolor) is one of the largest trees on Earth. Individual trees can reach as much as 80 meters. (Source: © Jean-Paul Ferrero/Auscape)
A total of about 38,000 km2, 11 percent of the land area in Southwest Australia, is under some form of official protection, virtually all of it in IUCN categories I to IV. Many reserves, however, are too small to adequately protect biological resources, and many ecosystem types are not well represented in the protected area system. Typically, the region's reserves represent land that was unsuitable for farming in the early days of settlement. Arable lands are almost exclusively privately owned, and a number of rare species are found only on these private lands.
Southwest Australia represents one of the best opportunities for long-term conservation among the hotspot because of its relatively low population density. However, immediate action is necessary to ensure the survival of the region's unique and highly threatened flora and fauna. In addition to maintaining the integrity of existing protected areas, the current network should be expanded through the creation of new reserves from private and public lands to include species and ecosystems not yet protected.
There are a number of conservation programs and projects currently operating in Southwest Australia. The Western Shield Program, run by the Department of Conservation and Land Management, is working to bring at least 13 native fauna species back from the brink of extinction by controlling introduced predators, such as the fox and feral cat. The main weapon in the fight against these predators is the use of the naturally occurring poison known as compound 1080, found in native plants called 'poison peas' (Gastrolobium spp.). While the native animals have evolved with these plants and have a high tolerance to the poison, introduced animals have only recently been exposed, meaning that they haven't had enough time to develop such a tolerance.
Project Eden is the arid scientific conservation component of Western Shield. This project uses innovative techniques to eradicate feral herbivores and predators and rejuvenate 105,000 hectares of arid zone habitat on Peron Peninsula at Shark Bay for threatened native fauna, and, to promote their reintroduction into the area.
A project focused on the ecology, abundance and predator dynamics of threatened Shark Bay mammals, has been run by the Sustainable Ecosystems program of CSIRO, the Australian national research agency, in partnership with a local salt mining community at Useless Loop for the past 16 years. This work has studied in detail the life cycle of some of Australia's most threatened animals on Bernier and Dorre Islands and has reintroduced the mari, or western barred bandicoot (Perameles bougainville) and burrowing bettong, (Bettongia lesueur), also known as the boodie. These two species had become extinct on the Australian mainland, with their range restricted to a few islands. This extirpation is made worse by the fact that the boodie was once of the most widespread of Australia's kangaroos, its burrows (now abandoned by the original owners) still visible deep in the heart of Australia.
Other conservation projects in Southwest Australia include community-based recovery programs for the threatened Carnaby's black-cockatoo, western ground parrot (Pezoporus wallicus flaviventris), noisy scrub-bird, malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata) and the marsupial 'mouse' known as the dibbler (Parentechinus apicalis). These involve organizations such as Birds Australia, WWF, CSIRO, Department of Conservation and Land Management and local Landcare groups.
Further Reading
Allen, G.R., Midgley, S.H. & Allen, M. 2002. Field Guide to the Freshwater Fishes of Australia. Perth, Australia: Western Australian Museum. ISBN: 0730754863.
Beard, J.S. 1980. A new phytogeographic map of Western Australia. Res. Notes. W.A. Herbarium 3:37-58.
Beard, J.S. 1990. The Plant Life of Western Australia. Sydney: Kangaroo Press. ISBN: 0864172796.
Beard, J.S., Chapman, A.R. & Gioia, P. 2000. Species richness and endemism in the western Australian flora. Journal of Biogeography 27: 1257-1268.
Beeston, G., Mlodowski, G., Sanders, A. & True, D. 1996. Remnant Vegetation Inventory in the Southern Agriculture Areas of Western Australia. Department of Agriculture Western Australia, Resource Management Report No. 149.
Bell, D.T., Hopkins, A.J.M. & Pate, J.S. 1984. Fire in the Kwongan. In J.S. Pate & J.S. Beard. (Eds.), Kwongan: The Plant Life of the Sandplain. Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press. ISBN: 0855642300.
Burbidge, N.T. 1960. The phytogeography of the Australian region. Aust. J. Bot. 8: 75-211.
Hopper, S.D., & Gioia, P. 2004. The Southwest Australian Floristic Region: Evolution and Conservation of a Global Hot Spot of Biodiversity. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst. 35: 623-650.
Pate, J.S. & Beard, J.S. 1984. Kwongan, the Plant Life of the Sandplain. Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press. ISBN: 0855642300.
Shepherd, D.P., Beeston, G.R. & Hopkins, A.J.M. 2002. Native Vegetation in Western Australia: Extent, Type and Status. Resource Management Technical Report 249. Department of Agriculture, Government of Western Australia.
Disclaimer: This article is taken wholly from, or contains information that was originally published by, the Conservation International. Topic editors and authors for the Encyclopedia of Earth may have edited its content or added new information. The use of information from the Conservation International should not be construed as support for or endorsement by that organization for any new information added by EoE personnel, or for any editing of the original content.
CitationConservation International (Content Partner); Kevin J. Caley (Topic Editor). 2008. "Biological diversity in Southwest Australia." In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth February 14, 2008; Last revised August 22, 2008; Retrieved September 17, 2008]. <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Biological_diversity_in_
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
biological diversity in new zealand
Table of Contents
1 Overview
2 Unique and Threatened Biodiversity
2.1 Plants
2.2 Vertebrates
2.2.1 Birds
2.2.2 Mammals
2.2.3 Reptiles
2.2.4 Amphibians
2.2.5 Freshwater Fishes
2.3 Invertebrates
3 Human Impacts
4 Conservation Action and Protected Areas
5 Further Reading
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Last Updated: August 22, 2008
Overview
Map of New Zealand. (Source: CI/ CABS)
An archipelago lying some 2,000 kilometers southeast of Australia in the southern Pacific Ocean, the New Zealand hotspot covers 270,197 km2 on three main islands (North Island, South Island and Stewart Island) and several smaller surrounding islands: the Chatham Islands, 800 km east of South Island, the Kermadec Islands to the north, and the Subantarctic Islands to the south (including the Bounty Islands, Antipodes Islands, Campbell Island, Snares Islands, Auckland Islands, and Macquarie Island). Also included are Lord Howe and Norfolk islands, both Australian territories.
New Zealand is linked biogeographically with New Caledonia via the undersea Norfolk Rise. Both New Zealand and New Caledonia split away from Gondwanaland at the same time and did not separate from each other until around 40 million years ago. Both hotspots are "ancient life-rafts" which have been largely isolated and have evolved unique flora and fauna.
New Zealand ranges in latitude from subtropical to subantarctic, and is a land of varied landscapes, with rugged mountains, rolling hills and wide alluvial plains. It is a tectonically active hotspot with frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity. About 75 percent of the hotspot's land area is above 200 meters in altitude, reaching a maximum of 3,700 meters on Aoraki (Mount Cook).
The Wheki-Ponga tree fern (Cyathea smithii) is endemic to New Zealand and occurs on North, South, Stewart and Chatham islands. (Source: © Tom Till/Auscape)
Climate is highly variable throughout the islands and has played a key role in biodiversity distribution. Annual rainfall ranges from 12,000 millimeters (one of the highest rainfall rates in the world) on the western slopes of the Southern Alps, to less than 300 millimeters in the rainshadow areas east of the Southern Alps. The Kermadec Islands have a subtropical climate, with warm, moist conditions throughout the year, while the Chatham Islands have a cloudy, humid climate, with cool, wet winters and warm, usually dry summers.
New Zealand's forests have been greatly depleted, but, of the remaining forests, the most impressive are those of giant New Zealand kauri (Agathis australis), which are restricted to the far north. Other forests on North Island are dominated by angiosperms, while those in the southern portion of the island and on South Island are dominated by Gondwanan gymnosperms of the family Podocarpaceae and southern beeches (Nothofagus spp.). The forests on the western flanks of the Southern Alps are among the most extensive temperate rainforests on Earth. Other vegetation types include scrub and shrublands, and snow grasses (Chionochloa spp.) above the timberline. At higher altitudes, the vegetation is characterized by cushion plants, many of them endemic and including the peculiar and distinctive "vegetable sheep" (Raoulia and Hastia spp.), which are highly compacted shrubs of the family Asteraceae.
Unique and Threatened Biodiversity
As is true of the other fragments of Gondwanaland - Madagascar, Australia, and New Caledonia -- New Zealand has remarkable levels of endemism among plants, birds, and reptiles.
Plants
Plant endemism is very high in New Zealand. Nearly 1,900 of about 3,400 species of vascular plants are endemic. Endemism also extends to the genus level; 35 plant genera are found nowhere else in the world. An example is the endemic monotypic genus Desmoschoenus spiralis or Pingao golden sand sedge, a coastal plant used by the Maori people in traditional building construction.
The fern Loxoma cunninghamii is one of the hotspot's "living fossils." Together with three species from Central America, L. cunninghamii constitutes the family Loxomataceae, whose closest relatives existed 60 million years ago. The hotspot also has one endemic family, the Ixerbaceae, which is represented by a single species (Ixerba brexiodes).
Vertebrates
Birds
The takahe (Porphyrio hochstetteri) is just one of New Zealand's spectacular endemic birds. (Source: © John Cancalosi/Auscape)
Nearly 200 bird species regularly occur in New Zealand, almost 90 of which (44 percent) are endemic. Not surprisingly, five Endemic Bird Areas identified by BirdLife International occupy nearly the entire area of the country. The hotspot also has 17 endemic bird genera and three endemic bird families, Acanthisittidae, Apterygidae, and Callaeidae. Moreover, it is the only hotspot to have an endemic bird Order, represented by the endearing, flightless kiwis (Apterygiformes), also the national bird of New Zealand.
Unfortunately, New Zealand's existing bird diversity represents only a fraction of the birds that once occupied the island. The hotspot has suffered 20 bird extinctions since 1500, including Stephens Island wren (Traversia lyalli), the only case in which an entire species was rendered extinct by the predatory instincts of a single introduced cat. Other historically extinct species include the giant flightless moas, which could grow to more than 3.5 meters in height, the bizarre flightless adzebill (Aptornis), which weighed up to 10 kilograms and bears no resemblance to any other known bird, and the largest eagle in the world, Haast's eagle (Harpagornis moorei), which preyed on moa.
A recent staggering development was the 2003 rediscovery of the New Zealand storm petrel (Oceanites maorianus, CR) in waters just off North Island. The 2003 sightings were the first records of this species, which had previously been known only from fossil material and three nineteenth-century specimens.
A number of other species are highly threatened today, including the kakapo (Strigops habroptilus, CR), a large, nocturnal, flightless parrot, which has suffered habitat destruction and extensive predation by introduced species like stoats and dogs. By 1976, the known population was 18 birds, all males, and all in Fiordland. In 1977, a rapidly declining population was discovered on Stewart Island, and so between 1980 and 1992 some 60 surviving birds were translocated to offshore islands, and currently survive on Maud, Inner Chetwode, Codfish, and Pearl Islands. In 1999, the population numbered 26 males and 36 females, with 50 animals of reproductive age. The population has since stabilized and is increasing.
All four species of kiwi are also threatened: tokoeka (Apteryx australis, VU), great spotted kiwi (Apteryx haastii, VU), brown kiwi (Apteryx mantelli, EN), and little spotted kiwi (Apertyx owenii, VU). These unusual birds are much smaller cousins of ostriches, emus, and rheas. Kiwis are mammal-like birds, with hairy feathers, sensory whiskers, an acute sense of smell, and short, squat bodies. They have marrow-filled bones (rather than hollow bones like other birds) and lay an egg that is 25 percent of their own body weight, which incubates for 2-3 months before hatching.
Finally, New Zealand also has the most diverse seabird community in the world, with around 80 species known to breed here. At least three-quarters of the world's penguin species breed in the New Zealand region, including the threatened endemic yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes, EN).
Mammals
Both land mammal species native to the hotspot are endemic bats, one of which is the only living representative of the endemic bat family Mystacinidae: the New Zealand lesser short-tailed bat (Mysticina tuberculata, VU). This bat species is an oddity in that it walks about on all fours on the ground in predator-free environments. Its relative, the greater short-tailed bat (Mystacina robusta) is Extinct. The second land mammal species found in New Zealand is the long-tailed wattled bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus, VU), which has suffered significant population declines recently. THe Hooker's sea lion (Phocarctos hookeri, VU) also occurs in this hotspot.
Reptiles
Nearly 40 species of reptiles are found in New Zealand, and all are unique to the islands; the fauna comprises geckos and skinks only, and there are no native snake species. In addition, a remarkable five of six reptile genera are endemic to the hotspot. The region also boasts an entire endemic order, the tuataras (Order Rhynchocephalia). The tuataras resemble iguanas and are primitive species that have existed since the dinosaur age, famous for their well-developed third eye. Although tuataras once ranged throughout much of the hotspot, the arrival of the Polynesia rat (Rattus exulans) greatly reduced their numbers. Two remaining species, Sphenodon punctatus and S. guntheri, are confined to 30 predator-free offshore islands where the New Zealand Department of Conservation is hoping the species' small populations will rebound.
Amphibians
Amphibians are represented in New Zealand by just four primitive frog species of the endemic family Leiopelmatidae. All four species are threatened, among them Archey's frog (Leiopelma archeyi, CR), which occurs on North Island in the Whareorino range in the west and Coromandel ranges in east, and has been severely affected by chytrid fungus.
Freshwater Fishes
Of the nearly 40 freshwater fish species native to New Zealand, about 25 (64 percent) are found nowhere else. The fish fauna is dominated by members of the family Galaxiidae, a group of coolwater trout-like fishes restricted to the southern tips of South America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Nearly 20 of the more than 50 galaxiid species known worldwide are found in New Zealand, and all but a few are endemic to the hotspot.
Invertebrates
Additional research on New Zealand's invertebrate fauna is needed. The hotspot is home to 28 species of gastropods for which IUCN Red List assessments are available, six of which are considered to be Data Deficient by the IUCN Red List. Two species of land snail are threatened, Rhytida clarki (CR) and R. oconnori (CR), and a further three species of flax snails may soon be (Placosylus ambagiosus (VU), P. bollonis (VU), P. hongii (VU)). Six species are recorded as being Extinct, all from Norfolk Island.
A distinctive element of the New Zealand biota is the widespread occurrence of gigantism. Although some of the giant forms include the now extinct flightless moas and Haast's eagle, this element is still noticeable in some giant insects, myriapods, flatworms, land snails, centipedes, slugs, and earthworms. The world's heaviest insect, the weta or wingless cricket of Little Barrier Island (Hauturu) weighs up to 70 grams and is one of 12 species of Deinacrida, the ancestors of which roamed the Jurassic forests.
Human Impacts
The four members of the kiwi family are endemic to New Zealand. Introduction of exotic species has contributed to the threatened status of the greater spotted kiwi (Apteryx haastii), pictured here. (Source: © Tui De Roy/The Roving Tortoise)
Although people came to New Zealand relatively late - only about 700-800 years ago - human impact on the land and natural ecosystems has been extensive. The first great impact was from hunting, fishing, and gathering, which caused the extinction of native bird species such as the giant moas and eagles.
However, an even greater threat to the native biodiversity of New Zealand was the introduction of invasive alien species. When Europeans arrived on the islands in the early nineteenth century, they brought with them 34 exotic mammal species (including brush-tailed possums, rabbits, cats, goats, stoats and ferrets) and hundreds of invasive weedy plant species. In conjunction with the impact of hunting (and also extensive habitat destruction), the last two hundred years have witnessed the extinction of 16 land birds, one endemic bat, one fish, at least a dozen invertebrates, and ten plants. Several other species survive only in tiny populations on offshore islands.
Today, invasive species remain an important threat to New Zealand's biodiversity, but large-scale habitat destruction, through deforestation, wetland drainage and ecosystem degradation, represents as serious an issue. In terms of natural habitat, it is estimated that remaining indigenous habitat in more or less primary condition amounts to 35,000 km2 of forest (down from roughly 230,000 km2), 15,000 km2 of native grassland-scrub, 4,000 km2 of wetlands and other aquatic systems, 2,600 km2 of smaller island ecosystems, 1,800 km2 of alpine systems, and about 1,000 km2 of coastal systems, for a total of 59,400 km2 (or 22 percent of the land surface of the country).
Conservation Action and Protected Areas
There are two remaining species of tuatara, ancient reptiles that have existed since the dinosaur age. They only occur on predator-free offshore islands in the New Zealand Hotspot. (Source: © Tui De Roy/The Roving Tortoise)
New Zealand has a strong history of conservation legislation, dating back nearly 150 years. Most conservation laws are administered by the Department of Conservation, the main government agency responsible for the protection and sustainable use of biodiversity. Yet, the true conservation successes in New Zealand have resulted from the hard work of exceptionally talented, focused and energetic individuals who have made the conservation of threatened species successful at the ground level. Richard Henry, back in the 1880s, started this trend by trying to save the kakapo by translocation to islands. The practical, experimental and field-based focus of conservation, which grew out of the old Wildlife Service in the 1960s and 1970s, has been a major factor in achieving conservation in this hotspot.
The country's first national park was established in 1887. Today, 74,000 km2 of land (27.5 percent of the land area) is officially protected, including 3,345 protected areas in IUCN categories I to IV covering 22 percent of the land area. Most of these parks and larger reserves are in mountainous areas (such as the Southern Alps), while lowland habitats are not as well protected. However, a number of protected areas have been established especially to protected threatened species, including many of the offshore and outlying islands ranging from the large subantarctic Auckland and Campbell Island groups, Little Barrier (Hauturu), and Kapiti, to the warm temperate Kermadec Islands.
However, while formal habitat protection is important, active pest management is required if further extinctions are to be avoided, particularly given the threat of invasive species on the native fauna and flora. Conservation practitioners in New Zealand have earned an international reputation for their achievements in eradicating invasive mammals from islands and, more recently, controlling animal and plant pests at "mainland" sites. Twelve species of pest mammals and one predatory bird have been successfully eradicated from offshore and oceanic islands in the New Zealand region.
Significant recent advances have involved a new capability to eradicate rodents from much larger islands using aerial bait application techniques, and the use of more effective quarantine and contingency procedures to reduce the risks of further invasions. For example, Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) were recently eradicated from Campbell Island (112 km2), and this has opened the way for important species recovery and restoration programmes. The Department of Conservation is applying a strategy to develop capacity to eradicate different suites of invasive species from further islands and to refine procedures to minimize invasion risks. Important recent progress has also been made in controlling invasive species on the New Zealand "mainland" - sites not surrounded by water, where terrestrial pest invasion rates are higher than on remote islands - through the development of intensively managed, predator-free areas where threatened species can be re-established.
Further Reading
Cameron, E.K., De Lange, P.J., Given, D.R., Johnson P.N., & Ogle, C.C. 1995. New Zealand Botanical Society threatened and local plant lists (1995 revision). Newsletter New Zealand Botanical Society 32: 15-28.
Cromarty, P.L., Broome, K.G., Cox, A., Empson, R.A., Hutchinson, W.M. & McFadden, I. 2002. Eradication planning for invasive alien mammal species on islands ' The Approach Developed by the New Zealand Department of Conservation in 'Turning the Tide: The Eradication of Invasive Species'. Proceedings of the International Conference on Eradication of Island Invasives. In C.R. Veitch & M.N. Clout. (Eds.), IUCN Species Survival Commission occasional paper No.27.
Daugherty, C.H., Gibbs, G.W. & Hitchmough, R.A. 1993. Mega-island or micro-continent? New Zealand and its fauna. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 8: 437-442.
Dawson, S.M. & Slooten, E. 1988. Hector's dolphin. Cephalorhyncus hectori: Distribution and abundance. Reports of the International Whaling Commission. Special Issue 9: 315-344.
Ecroyd, C. 1996. The Ecology of Dactylanthus taylorii and threats to its survival. New Zealand Journal of Ecology 20: 81-100.
Falla, R. A., Sibson, R.B. & Turbott, E.G. 1979. The New Guide to the Birds of New Zealand. Auckland: Collins. ISBN: 0002196220.
Francis, K. 1971. The New Zealand Kiwi. Christchurch, New Zealand: Whitcoulls Publishers.
Froggart, P. & Oates, M. 1993. Proceedings of Conference on People, Plants and Conservation: Botanic Gardens into the 21st Century, March 19-23, 1992.. Wellington. Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture.
Given, D.R. 1981. Rare and Endangered Plants of New Zealand. Auckland: Reed. ISBN: 0589013688.
Given, D.R. 1995. Forging a biodiversity ethic in a multicultural context. Biodiversity and Conservation 4: 877-891.
Given, D.R. & Pavlik, B. 1994. Helichrysum dimorphum: Obscure, unique and endangered. Forest & Bird 272: 39-41.
Grant, P.J. 1994. Late holocene histories of climate, geomorphology and vegetation, and their effects on the first New Zealanders. In D.G. Sutton. (Ed.), The Origins of the First New Zealanders. pp. 164-194. Auckland: Auckland University Press. ISBN: 1869400984.
Halloy, S.R.P. 1995. Status of New Zealand biodiversity research and resources: How much do we know? Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 25: 55-80.
Holmes, B. 1995. Second chance for the Tuatara. New Scientist 149 (2016): 26-29.
May, R. M. 1990. Taxonomy as destiny. Nature 347: 129-130.
Mcdowell.1987: Impacts of exotic fishes on the native fauna. In A.B. Viner. (Ed.), Inland Waters of New Zealand. DSIR Bulletin 241.
Mcglone, M. 1989. The Polynesian settlement of New Zealand in relation to environmental and biotic changes. New Zealand Journal of Ecology (Supplement)12 : 115-129.
Ministry For The Environment. 1997. The State of New Zealand's Environment. New Zealand: Ministry for the Environment.
O'reagan, T. 1994. The Maori view of sustainable land management. In M. Ralston. (Ed.), Proceedings of the 1994 New Zealand Conference on Sustainable Land Management 12-14 April 1994. pp. 63-66. Lincoln University.
Rogers, G.M. 1995. World of wounds. Forest and Bird 277: 23-30.
Saunders, A. 2000. A Review of Department of Conservation Mainland Restoration Projects and Recommendations for Further Action. Wellington: Department of Conservation.
Sutherland, R. 1999. Basement geology and tectonic development of the greater New Zealand region: An interpretation from regional magnetic data. Tectonophysics 308: 341-362.
Towns, D.R. & Elliot, G.P. 1996. Effects of habitat structure on distribution and abundance of lizards at Pukerua Bay, Wellington, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Ecology 20: 191-206.
Veitch, C.R. & Bell, B.D. 1990. Eradication of introduced animals from the islands of New Zealand. In D.R. Towns, C.H. Daugherty, I.A.E Atkinson. (Eds.), Ecological Restoration of New Zealand Islands. Wellington: Department of Conservation. ISBN: 0478012047.
Williams, P.A. & Courtney, S.P. 1995. Site characteristics and population structure of the endangered shrub Olearia polita, Wilson et Garnock Jones, Nelson, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 33: 237-42.
World Resources Institute. 1994. World Resources 1994-95. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 1569730040.
Disclaimer: This article is taken wholly from, or contains information that was originally published by, the Conservation International. Topic editors and authors for the Encyclopedia of Earth may have edited its content or added new information. The use of information from the Conservation International should not be construed as support for or endorsement by that organization for any new information added by EoE personnel, or for any editing of the original content.
CitationConservation International (Content Partner); Mark McGinley (Topic Editor). 2008. "Biological diversity in New Zealand." In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth January 10, 2008; Last revised August 22, 2008; Retrieved
1 Overview
2 Unique and Threatened Biodiversity
2.1 Plants
2.2 Vertebrates
2.2.1 Birds
2.2.2 Mammals
2.2.3 Reptiles
2.2.4 Amphibians
2.2.5 Freshwater Fishes
2.3 Invertebrates
3 Human Impacts
4 Conservation Action and Protected Areas
5 Further Reading
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Content Partner: Conservation International (other articles)
Article Topics: Biodiversity and Ecology
This article has been reviewed and approved by the following Topic Editor: Mark McGinley (other articles)
Last Updated: August 22, 2008
Overview
Map of New Zealand. (Source: CI/ CABS)
An archipelago lying some 2,000 kilometers southeast of Australia in the southern Pacific Ocean, the New Zealand hotspot covers 270,197 km2 on three main islands (North Island, South Island and Stewart Island) and several smaller surrounding islands: the Chatham Islands, 800 km east of South Island, the Kermadec Islands to the north, and the Subantarctic Islands to the south (including the Bounty Islands, Antipodes Islands, Campbell Island, Snares Islands, Auckland Islands, and Macquarie Island). Also included are Lord Howe and Norfolk islands, both Australian territories.
New Zealand is linked biogeographically with New Caledonia via the undersea Norfolk Rise. Both New Zealand and New Caledonia split away from Gondwanaland at the same time and did not separate from each other until around 40 million years ago. Both hotspots are "ancient life-rafts" which have been largely isolated and have evolved unique flora and fauna.
New Zealand ranges in latitude from subtropical to subantarctic, and is a land of varied landscapes, with rugged mountains, rolling hills and wide alluvial plains. It is a tectonically active hotspot with frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity. About 75 percent of the hotspot's land area is above 200 meters in altitude, reaching a maximum of 3,700 meters on Aoraki (Mount Cook).
The Wheki-Ponga tree fern (Cyathea smithii) is endemic to New Zealand and occurs on North, South, Stewart and Chatham islands. (Source: © Tom Till/Auscape)
Climate is highly variable throughout the islands and has played a key role in biodiversity distribution. Annual rainfall ranges from 12,000 millimeters (one of the highest rainfall rates in the world) on the western slopes of the Southern Alps, to less than 300 millimeters in the rainshadow areas east of the Southern Alps. The Kermadec Islands have a subtropical climate, with warm, moist conditions throughout the year, while the Chatham Islands have a cloudy, humid climate, with cool, wet winters and warm, usually dry summers.
New Zealand's forests have been greatly depleted, but, of the remaining forests, the most impressive are those of giant New Zealand kauri (Agathis australis), which are restricted to the far north. Other forests on North Island are dominated by angiosperms, while those in the southern portion of the island and on South Island are dominated by Gondwanan gymnosperms of the family Podocarpaceae and southern beeches (Nothofagus spp.). The forests on the western flanks of the Southern Alps are among the most extensive temperate rainforests on Earth. Other vegetation types include scrub and shrublands, and snow grasses (Chionochloa spp.) above the timberline. At higher altitudes, the vegetation is characterized by cushion plants, many of them endemic and including the peculiar and distinctive "vegetable sheep" (Raoulia and Hastia spp.), which are highly compacted shrubs of the family Asteraceae.
Unique and Threatened Biodiversity
As is true of the other fragments of Gondwanaland - Madagascar, Australia, and New Caledonia -- New Zealand has remarkable levels of endemism among plants, birds, and reptiles.
Plants
Plant endemism is very high in New Zealand. Nearly 1,900 of about 3,400 species of vascular plants are endemic. Endemism also extends to the genus level; 35 plant genera are found nowhere else in the world. An example is the endemic monotypic genus Desmoschoenus spiralis or Pingao golden sand sedge, a coastal plant used by the Maori people in traditional building construction.
The fern Loxoma cunninghamii is one of the hotspot's "living fossils." Together with three species from Central America, L. cunninghamii constitutes the family Loxomataceae, whose closest relatives existed 60 million years ago. The hotspot also has one endemic family, the Ixerbaceae, which is represented by a single species (Ixerba brexiodes).
Vertebrates
Birds
The takahe (Porphyrio hochstetteri) is just one of New Zealand's spectacular endemic birds. (Source: © John Cancalosi/Auscape)
Nearly 200 bird species regularly occur in New Zealand, almost 90 of which (44 percent) are endemic. Not surprisingly, five Endemic Bird Areas identified by BirdLife International occupy nearly the entire area of the country. The hotspot also has 17 endemic bird genera and three endemic bird families, Acanthisittidae, Apterygidae, and Callaeidae. Moreover, it is the only hotspot to have an endemic bird Order, represented by the endearing, flightless kiwis (Apterygiformes), also the national bird of New Zealand.
Unfortunately, New Zealand's existing bird diversity represents only a fraction of the birds that once occupied the island. The hotspot has suffered 20 bird extinctions since 1500, including Stephens Island wren (Traversia lyalli), the only case in which an entire species was rendered extinct by the predatory instincts of a single introduced cat. Other historically extinct species include the giant flightless moas, which could grow to more than 3.5 meters in height, the bizarre flightless adzebill (Aptornis), which weighed up to 10 kilograms and bears no resemblance to any other known bird, and the largest eagle in the world, Haast's eagle (Harpagornis moorei), which preyed on moa.
A recent staggering development was the 2003 rediscovery of the New Zealand storm petrel (Oceanites maorianus, CR) in waters just off North Island. The 2003 sightings were the first records of this species, which had previously been known only from fossil material and three nineteenth-century specimens.
A number of other species are highly threatened today, including the kakapo (Strigops habroptilus, CR), a large, nocturnal, flightless parrot, which has suffered habitat destruction and extensive predation by introduced species like stoats and dogs. By 1976, the known population was 18 birds, all males, and all in Fiordland. In 1977, a rapidly declining population was discovered on Stewart Island, and so between 1980 and 1992 some 60 surviving birds were translocated to offshore islands, and currently survive on Maud, Inner Chetwode, Codfish, and Pearl Islands. In 1999, the population numbered 26 males and 36 females, with 50 animals of reproductive age. The population has since stabilized and is increasing.
All four species of kiwi are also threatened: tokoeka (Apteryx australis, VU), great spotted kiwi (Apteryx haastii, VU), brown kiwi (Apteryx mantelli, EN), and little spotted kiwi (Apertyx owenii, VU). These unusual birds are much smaller cousins of ostriches, emus, and rheas. Kiwis are mammal-like birds, with hairy feathers, sensory whiskers, an acute sense of smell, and short, squat bodies. They have marrow-filled bones (rather than hollow bones like other birds) and lay an egg that is 25 percent of their own body weight, which incubates for 2-3 months before hatching.
Finally, New Zealand also has the most diverse seabird community in the world, with around 80 species known to breed here. At least three-quarters of the world's penguin species breed in the New Zealand region, including the threatened endemic yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes, EN).
Mammals
Both land mammal species native to the hotspot are endemic bats, one of which is the only living representative of the endemic bat family Mystacinidae: the New Zealand lesser short-tailed bat (Mysticina tuberculata, VU). This bat species is an oddity in that it walks about on all fours on the ground in predator-free environments. Its relative, the greater short-tailed bat (Mystacina robusta) is Extinct. The second land mammal species found in New Zealand is the long-tailed wattled bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus, VU), which has suffered significant population declines recently. THe Hooker's sea lion (Phocarctos hookeri, VU) also occurs in this hotspot.
Reptiles
Nearly 40 species of reptiles are found in New Zealand, and all are unique to the islands; the fauna comprises geckos and skinks only, and there are no native snake species. In addition, a remarkable five of six reptile genera are endemic to the hotspot. The region also boasts an entire endemic order, the tuataras (Order Rhynchocephalia). The tuataras resemble iguanas and are primitive species that have existed since the dinosaur age, famous for their well-developed third eye. Although tuataras once ranged throughout much of the hotspot, the arrival of the Polynesia rat (Rattus exulans) greatly reduced their numbers. Two remaining species, Sphenodon punctatus and S. guntheri, are confined to 30 predator-free offshore islands where the New Zealand Department of Conservation is hoping the species' small populations will rebound.
Amphibians
Amphibians are represented in New Zealand by just four primitive frog species of the endemic family Leiopelmatidae. All four species are threatened, among them Archey's frog (Leiopelma archeyi, CR), which occurs on North Island in the Whareorino range in the west and Coromandel ranges in east, and has been severely affected by chytrid fungus.
Freshwater Fishes
Of the nearly 40 freshwater fish species native to New Zealand, about 25 (64 percent) are found nowhere else. The fish fauna is dominated by members of the family Galaxiidae, a group of coolwater trout-like fishes restricted to the southern tips of South America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Nearly 20 of the more than 50 galaxiid species known worldwide are found in New Zealand, and all but a few are endemic to the hotspot.
Invertebrates
Additional research on New Zealand's invertebrate fauna is needed. The hotspot is home to 28 species of gastropods for which IUCN Red List assessments are available, six of which are considered to be Data Deficient by the IUCN Red List. Two species of land snail are threatened, Rhytida clarki (CR) and R. oconnori (CR), and a further three species of flax snails may soon be (Placosylus ambagiosus (VU), P. bollonis (VU), P. hongii (VU)). Six species are recorded as being Extinct, all from Norfolk Island.
A distinctive element of the New Zealand biota is the widespread occurrence of gigantism. Although some of the giant forms include the now extinct flightless moas and Haast's eagle, this element is still noticeable in some giant insects, myriapods, flatworms, land snails, centipedes, slugs, and earthworms. The world's heaviest insect, the weta or wingless cricket of Little Barrier Island (Hauturu) weighs up to 70 grams and is one of 12 species of Deinacrida, the ancestors of which roamed the Jurassic forests.
Human Impacts
The four members of the kiwi family are endemic to New Zealand. Introduction of exotic species has contributed to the threatened status of the greater spotted kiwi (Apteryx haastii), pictured here. (Source: © Tui De Roy/The Roving Tortoise)
Although people came to New Zealand relatively late - only about 700-800 years ago - human impact on the land and natural ecosystems has been extensive. The first great impact was from hunting, fishing, and gathering, which caused the extinction of native bird species such as the giant moas and eagles.
However, an even greater threat to the native biodiversity of New Zealand was the introduction of invasive alien species. When Europeans arrived on the islands in the early nineteenth century, they brought with them 34 exotic mammal species (including brush-tailed possums, rabbits, cats, goats, stoats and ferrets) and hundreds of invasive weedy plant species. In conjunction with the impact of hunting (and also extensive habitat destruction), the last two hundred years have witnessed the extinction of 16 land birds, one endemic bat, one fish, at least a dozen invertebrates, and ten plants. Several other species survive only in tiny populations on offshore islands.
Today, invasive species remain an important threat to New Zealand's biodiversity, but large-scale habitat destruction, through deforestation, wetland drainage and ecosystem degradation, represents as serious an issue. In terms of natural habitat, it is estimated that remaining indigenous habitat in more or less primary condition amounts to 35,000 km2 of forest (down from roughly 230,000 km2), 15,000 km2 of native grassland-scrub, 4,000 km2 of wetlands and other aquatic systems, 2,600 km2 of smaller island ecosystems, 1,800 km2 of alpine systems, and about 1,000 km2 of coastal systems, for a total of 59,400 km2 (or 22 percent of the land surface of the country).
Conservation Action and Protected Areas
There are two remaining species of tuatara, ancient reptiles that have existed since the dinosaur age. They only occur on predator-free offshore islands in the New Zealand Hotspot. (Source: © Tui De Roy/The Roving Tortoise)
New Zealand has a strong history of conservation legislation, dating back nearly 150 years. Most conservation laws are administered by the Department of Conservation, the main government agency responsible for the protection and sustainable use of biodiversity. Yet, the true conservation successes in New Zealand have resulted from the hard work of exceptionally talented, focused and energetic individuals who have made the conservation of threatened species successful at the ground level. Richard Henry, back in the 1880s, started this trend by trying to save the kakapo by translocation to islands. The practical, experimental and field-based focus of conservation, which grew out of the old Wildlife Service in the 1960s and 1970s, has been a major factor in achieving conservation in this hotspot.
The country's first national park was established in 1887. Today, 74,000 km2 of land (27.5 percent of the land area) is officially protected, including 3,345 protected areas in IUCN categories I to IV covering 22 percent of the land area. Most of these parks and larger reserves are in mountainous areas (such as the Southern Alps), while lowland habitats are not as well protected. However, a number of protected areas have been established especially to protected threatened species, including many of the offshore and outlying islands ranging from the large subantarctic Auckland and Campbell Island groups, Little Barrier (Hauturu), and Kapiti, to the warm temperate Kermadec Islands.
However, while formal habitat protection is important, active pest management is required if further extinctions are to be avoided, particularly given the threat of invasive species on the native fauna and flora. Conservation practitioners in New Zealand have earned an international reputation for their achievements in eradicating invasive mammals from islands and, more recently, controlling animal and plant pests at "mainland" sites. Twelve species of pest mammals and one predatory bird have been successfully eradicated from offshore and oceanic islands in the New Zealand region.
Significant recent advances have involved a new capability to eradicate rodents from much larger islands using aerial bait application techniques, and the use of more effective quarantine and contingency procedures to reduce the risks of further invasions. For example, Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) were recently eradicated from Campbell Island (112 km2), and this has opened the way for important species recovery and restoration programmes. The Department of Conservation is applying a strategy to develop capacity to eradicate different suites of invasive species from further islands and to refine procedures to minimize invasion risks. Important recent progress has also been made in controlling invasive species on the New Zealand "mainland" - sites not surrounded by water, where terrestrial pest invasion rates are higher than on remote islands - through the development of intensively managed, predator-free areas where threatened species can be re-established.
Further Reading
Cameron, E.K., De Lange, P.J., Given, D.R., Johnson P.N., & Ogle, C.C. 1995. New Zealand Botanical Society threatened and local plant lists (1995 revision). Newsletter New Zealand Botanical Society 32: 15-28.
Cromarty, P.L., Broome, K.G., Cox, A., Empson, R.A., Hutchinson, W.M. & McFadden, I. 2002. Eradication planning for invasive alien mammal species on islands ' The Approach Developed by the New Zealand Department of Conservation in 'Turning the Tide: The Eradication of Invasive Species'. Proceedings of the International Conference on Eradication of Island Invasives. In C.R. Veitch & M.N. Clout. (Eds.), IUCN Species Survival Commission occasional paper No.27.
Daugherty, C.H., Gibbs, G.W. & Hitchmough, R.A. 1993. Mega-island or micro-continent? New Zealand and its fauna. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 8: 437-442.
Dawson, S.M. & Slooten, E. 1988. Hector's dolphin. Cephalorhyncus hectori: Distribution and abundance. Reports of the International Whaling Commission. Special Issue 9: 315-344.
Ecroyd, C. 1996. The Ecology of Dactylanthus taylorii and threats to its survival. New Zealand Journal of Ecology 20: 81-100.
Falla, R. A., Sibson, R.B. & Turbott, E.G. 1979. The New Guide to the Birds of New Zealand. Auckland: Collins. ISBN: 0002196220.
Francis, K. 1971. The New Zealand Kiwi. Christchurch, New Zealand: Whitcoulls Publishers.
Froggart, P. & Oates, M. 1993. Proceedings of Conference on People, Plants and Conservation: Botanic Gardens into the 21st Century, March 19-23, 1992.. Wellington. Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture.
Given, D.R. 1981. Rare and Endangered Plants of New Zealand. Auckland: Reed. ISBN: 0589013688.
Given, D.R. 1995. Forging a biodiversity ethic in a multicultural context. Biodiversity and Conservation 4: 877-891.
Given, D.R. & Pavlik, B. 1994. Helichrysum dimorphum: Obscure, unique and endangered. Forest & Bird 272: 39-41.
Grant, P.J. 1994. Late holocene histories of climate, geomorphology and vegetation, and their effects on the first New Zealanders. In D.G. Sutton. (Ed.), The Origins of the First New Zealanders. pp. 164-194. Auckland: Auckland University Press. ISBN: 1869400984.
Halloy, S.R.P. 1995. Status of New Zealand biodiversity research and resources: How much do we know? Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 25: 55-80.
Holmes, B. 1995. Second chance for the Tuatara. New Scientist 149 (2016): 26-29.
May, R. M. 1990. Taxonomy as destiny. Nature 347: 129-130.
Mcdowell.1987: Impacts of exotic fishes on the native fauna. In A.B. Viner. (Ed.), Inland Waters of New Zealand. DSIR Bulletin 241.
Mcglone, M. 1989. The Polynesian settlement of New Zealand in relation to environmental and biotic changes. New Zealand Journal of Ecology (Supplement)12 : 115-129.
Ministry For The Environment. 1997. The State of New Zealand's Environment. New Zealand: Ministry for the Environment.
O'reagan, T. 1994. The Maori view of sustainable land management. In M. Ralston. (Ed.), Proceedings of the 1994 New Zealand Conference on Sustainable Land Management 12-14 April 1994. pp. 63-66. Lincoln University.
Rogers, G.M. 1995. World of wounds. Forest and Bird 277: 23-30.
Saunders, A. 2000. A Review of Department of Conservation Mainland Restoration Projects and Recommendations for Further Action. Wellington: Department of Conservation.
Sutherland, R. 1999. Basement geology and tectonic development of the greater New Zealand region: An interpretation from regional magnetic data. Tectonophysics 308: 341-362.
Towns, D.R. & Elliot, G.P. 1996. Effects of habitat structure on distribution and abundance of lizards at Pukerua Bay, Wellington, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Ecology 20: 191-206.
Veitch, C.R. & Bell, B.D. 1990. Eradication of introduced animals from the islands of New Zealand. In D.R. Towns, C.H. Daugherty, I.A.E Atkinson. (Eds.), Ecological Restoration of New Zealand Islands. Wellington: Department of Conservation. ISBN: 0478012047.
Williams, P.A. & Courtney, S.P. 1995. Site characteristics and population structure of the endangered shrub Olearia polita, Wilson et Garnock Jones, Nelson, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 33: 237-42.
World Resources Institute. 1994. World Resources 1994-95. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 1569730040.
Disclaimer: This article is taken wholly from, or contains information that was originally published by, the Conservation International. Topic editors and authors for the Encyclopedia of Earth may have edited its content or added new information. The use of information from the Conservation International should not be construed as support for or endorsement by that organization for any new information added by EoE personnel, or for any editing of the original content.
CitationConservation International (Content Partner); Mark McGinley (Topic Editor). 2008. "Biological diversity in New Zealand." In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth January 10, 2008; Last revised August 22, 2008; Retrieved
biological diversity in mesoamerica
Table of Contents
1 Overview
2 Unique and Threatened Biodiversity
2.1 Plants
2.2 Vertebrates
2.2.1 Birds
2.2.2 Mammals
2.2.3 Reptiles
2.2.4 Amphibians
2.2.5 Freshwater Fishes
3 Human Impacts
4 Conservation Action and Protected Areas
5 Notes
6 Further Reading
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Content Partner: Conservation International (other articles)
Article Topics: Biodiversity and Ecology
This article has been reviewed and approved by the following Topic Editor: Mark McGinley (other articles)
Last Updated: August 22, 2008
Overview
Spanning most of Central America, the Mesoamerica Hotspot encompasses all subtropical and tropical ecosystems from central Mexico to the Panama Canal. This includes all of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, as well as a third of Mexico and nearly two-thirds of Panama.
Map of Mesoamerica. (Source: CI/CABS)
In Mexico, the hotspot extends as far north as northern Sinaloa (Río Fuerte) on the Pacific Coast and as far as the middle of the Sierra Madre Oriental (west of Tampico) on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and includes the entire area of the Mexican states of Chiapas, Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Campeche, Veracruz, as well as portions of the states of Oaxaca, Guerrero, Puebla, México, Michoacán, Morelos, Querétaro, Jalisco, Nayarit, Colima, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas, Sinaloa, Durango, Sonora, Chihuahua, and Tamaulipas. The hotspot does not encompass the subtropical pine-oak forest in the higher elevations of the Sierra Madre Oriental and Occidental ranges, here included in the Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands Hotspot.
This hotspot also includes a number of nearshore and offshore islands in both the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, which are important biologically due to the presence of endemic species and as nesting areas for seabirds. These islands include the Revillagigedos, Tres Marías Islands, and Cozumel, all belonging to Mexico, Islas de la Bahía (Honduras), Cocos (Costa Rica), Providencia and San Andrés (Colombia), and Coiba (Panama), as well as Clipperton Island (France).
The hotspot's major ecosystems are a complex mosaic of dry forests, lowland moist forest, and montane forests. Intermittent coastal swamps and mangrove forests along the Pacific coast from Mexico to Panama give way to broad-leaved and coniferous forests at higher altitudes. East of the mountains, the Caribbean lowlands are home to moist, subtropical wet forests and rain forests. In the southern part of the hotspot, broad-leaved premontane and montane hardwood forests occupy steep and cloud-shrouded slopes.
Unique and Threatened Biodiversity
Rio San Pedro in Laguna del Tigre National Park, Guatemala. (Source: Conservation International, photo by Haroldo Castro)
The biodiversity of Mesoamerica represents the confluence of flora and fauna from two biogeographic regions, the Nearctic of North America and the Neotropical of South and Central America and the Caribbean. North and South America were once two separate landmasses, with independently evolved plant and animal species. Then, about 3 million years ago, sections of Central America rose above sea level, forming a land bridge between north and south. Species began to flow in both directions between the continents, and their interaction in this transition zone helped produce Mesoamerica's unique and diverse array of life forms.
Additionally, the highlands and mountain chains that run along the hotspot's main north-south axis have facilitated isolation and speciation throughout Mesoamerica. Because the mountains have often posed an impassable barrier, there are considerable differences in species composition between the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. On the other hand, the valleys and lowlands running parallel to the mountains have long served as natural corridors for animal and human migrations.
Plants
Mesoamerica has a total of about 17,000 species of vascular plants, nearly 3,000 of which are endemic (17 percent). In addition, 65 of 2,523 genera are endemic, 50 of which are represented by a single species. The number of species and genera endemic to this hotspot is lower than might be expected, because a large number of genera spill over into the neighboring Mexican states of Oaxaca, Veracruz and Tamaulipas. The plants of Mesoamerica provide a window into the unique role of this region as a land bridge between the flora and fauna of North and South America. Many Nearctic and Neotropical plants reach their southerly and northerly range limits, respectively, in this hotspot. The highlands of Guatemala are the northernmost reaches for the páramo vegetation of the northern Andes, including the families, Umbelliferae and Compositae. The coniferous forests of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua represent the southernmost extension of several genera of trees, including Pinus, Abies, Juniperus, Cupressus, and Taxus. Commercially valuable timber species are found within the hotspot and, as in the case of big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla, VU), have historically driven the exploitation of the region's forest resources. Other valuable timber species include Pacific mahogany (Swietenia humilisi, VU), extirpated from much of its natural range, Spanish cedar (Cedrela odorata, VU), and rosewood (Dalbergia stevensonii). The hotspot also contains more than 300 cacti species, of which about 60 percent are endemic, or nearly so, to the hotspot (and 85 percent of these are found exclusively within the Mexican portion of the hotspot). Plant endemism is highest within Mesoamerica in the diverse topography of the region's mountains, especially the high mountains of Guatemala and southern Mexico. Three plant families are endemic to the hotspot, each represented by a single species: Haptanthaceae (Haptanthus hazlettii), Lacandoniaceae (Lacandonia schismatica), and Ticodendraceae (Ticodendron incognitum). Lacandonia is particularly unique among flowering plants for having "inside-out" flowers, i.e., the central androecium (stamens) surrounded by the gynoecium (separate pistils).
Vertebrates
Birds
The forests of Mesoamerica are home to nearly 1,120 bird species, including more than 200 species restricted to the region. About 20 bird genera are endemic to the hotspot, and BirdLife International has identified 17 Endemic Bird Areas in Mexico and Central America, covering nearly the entire extent of the hotspot. The best known species from this region and conservation symbols for their cloud forest habitats are the resplendent quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno), whose brilliant green and crimson plumage is the national emblem of Guatemala, and the horned guan (Oreophasis derbianus, EN), a large bird – sole representative of its genus – with a distinctive red horn protruding from the top of its head. Both of these endemic species are threatened by habitat destruction. Of the more than 40 species of threatened birds found in this hotspot, endemics include the Honduran emerald (Amazilia luciae, CR), the Cozumel thrasher (Toxostoma guttatum, CR) and the Socorro mockingbird (Mimodes graysoni, CR). The forests of Mesoamerica, the third largest in any of the hotspots, also provide critical winter habitat and stop-over points for about 225 species of migratory birds. Three of the four major trans-regional migratory bird routes in the Western hemisphere converge here.
Mammals
Hunting and deforestation have dramatically impacted the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis). In central America, it is restricted to dense patches of forest. (Source: Photograph by Fulvio Eccardi)
Mesoamerica holds roughly 440 species, and more than 65 (15 percent) of these are endemic. A number of these endemics are confined to offshore islands, including two threatened species on Cozumel: the Cozumel harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys spectabilis, EN) and Cozumel raccoon (Procyon pygmaeus, EN). Some of the most visible symbols of mammal diversity in Mesoamerica are its monkeys, including the Central American spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) and Mexican black howler monkey (Alouatta pigra, EN), which produce impressive roars that can be heard for miles, and Central American squirrel monkey (Saimiri oerstedii, EN). Two other large mammals, the Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii, EN) and the jaguar (Panthera onca) are both important flagships for the regions forests. However, much of the mammal endemism in Mesoamerica is attributable to the diversity of small mammals. Some 20 species of shrews and more than 180 species of rodents (including nearly 20 species of pocket gophers, and around 20 species of squirrels) are found in Mesoamerica; many of these are endemic. Three endemic species, Van Gelder’s bat (Bauerus dubiaquercus), the Yucatán vesper rat (Otonyctomys hatti), and Bang’s mountain squirrel (Syntheosciurus brochus), are all representatives of endemic genera.
Reptiles
Mesoamerica has very high reptile and amphibian diversity and endemism. The area is the most diverse hotspot for reptiles, with more than 690 species found here, and nearly 240 (35 percent) endemic. Many genera are endemic, as is one monotypic turtle family, the Dermatemydidae, represented by the Central American river turtle (Dermatemys mawii, EN) from the rivers of southern Mexico and adjacent Guatemala and Belize, and one of the most highly threatened freshwater turtles in the world. Another endemic reptile found in many of the same rivers is Morelet’s crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii). There are also many important nesting beaches for marine turtles, including Tortuguero, Costa Rica —one of the most important nesting beaches for green turtles (Chelonia mydas, EN) in the Western Hemisphere. Other beaches on both the Caribbean and Pacific coasts also provide important nesting areas for hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata, CR), olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea, EN), and leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea, CR) sea turtles.
Amphibians
Amphibian diversity and endemism also reach exceptional levels in Mesoamerica, with more than 550 species, over 350 of which are endemic. Over 20 percent of the 52 amphibian genera in the hotspot are endemic. Guatemala and the adjacent Mexican state of Chiapas are especially rich in salamanders, and are considered a center of origin and dispersal for tropical salamander species. In total, the hotspot has approximately 160 species of the order Caudata (the newts and salamanders), and some 120 are endemic; all endemics belong to the family Plethodontidae (lungless salamanders). One of the most poignant symbols of conservation in Mesoamerica and worldwide is the golden toad (Bufo periglenes, EX). A beautiful, bright orange toad found only in Costa Rica's Monteverde Cloud Forest, the golden toad hasn't been seen since 1989, when it disappeared virtually overnight. The plight of the toad, which is presumed to be extinct, is an oft-cited example of the worldwide phenomenon of declining amphibian populations. In total, more than 230 species of the amphibians present in this hotspot (just less than half) are threatened with extinction, particularly the salamanders in the genus Bolitoglossa and the frogs in the speciose genus Eleutherodactylus.
Freshwater Fishes
Freshwater fishes are an important component of Mesoamerica’s vertebrate diversity. The hotspot is home to more than 500 species, nearly 350 of which are endemic; there are also 25 endemic genera. More than 200 of the hotspot's fish species belong to two families: the cichlids (with 12 endemic genera) and the live-bearing Poeciliidae. Nearly a quarter of Mesoamerica’s fishes have distributions restricted to single bodies of water or small tributaries in larger watersheds.
Human Impacts
The thick-billed parrot (Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha, EN) once occurred in Arizona and New Mexico but is now restricted to northern and central Mexico. The species is suffering rapid decline. (Source: Photograph by Fulvio Eccardi)
Prior to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores 500 years ago, Mesoamerica supported intensive indigenous agriculture and hunting. With the arrival of Cortez, indigenous populations were decimated by disease, warfare, and slavery, and some of their agricultural clearings were abandoned to regeneration, yielding in some areas a net increase in forest lands. However, during the 19th century, the conversion of forests for large-scale agricultural and livestock developments, including coffee, bananas, oil palm, and beef cattle, began in earnest. Much of the western Pacific plain was cleared by the end of the 1800s, and the focus of conversion during the 1900s was shifted to the tropical moist forests of the Caribbean lowlands.
The advent of mechanized forestry in the 20th century allowed timber operations to abandon rivers and lagoons as the only method of transportation for logs in the tropical forests of Mesoamerica. Aside from riparian areas and adjacent areas that could be reached by oxen, most forests had remained intact largely because they were unharvestable with the available technology. Once timber extraction was mechanized, the presence of big-leaf mahogany, even today the most valuable timber species in the Neotropical forest, was a powerful incentive for logging to open virgin forests. Old-growth mahogany trees could be large enough and valuable enough to prompt extensive exploration; their procurement was the beginning of a multitude of pressures on these forests that escalated once they were relieved of their most valuable species.
In recent decades, Mesoamerica has seen some of the highest deforestation rates in the world; between 1980 and 1990, deforestation averaged 1.4 percent annually, and it is estimated that 80 percent of the area's original habitat has been cleared or severely modified. Of all the countries in the hotspot, El Salvador is the most devastated; it has less than five percent of its original forest cover remaining.
Recently, large-scale industrial developments, including oil development in Mexico and Guatemala and timber and mineral extraction, have increased the threat to forests. Deforestation often follows a familiar and devastating pattern in Mesoamerica, driven by inequities in land distribution and very high population growth rates (as high as seven to ten percent per year in some parts of southern Mexico and northern Guatemala). Roads built for development projects open up access to previously pristine lands and serve as migration routes for landless peasants, who clear adjacent lands for subsistence agriculture. Once the lands, which typically have very poor soils, become unproductive, the peasants clear other areas, selling their original plots to consolidators who develop large cattle ranches in their wake.
Conservation Action and Protected Areas
La Amistad International Park and Biosphere Reserve, where this photo was taken, protects the largest block of cloud forest in Mesoamerica. (© Conservation International, photo by Haroldo Castro)
About 13 percent, or 142,000 km2, of the total land area of the Mesoamerica hotspot is currently under some form of protection, though only 64,000 km2 (six percent) of this is in IUCN categories I to IV. In two countries, national percentages for protected land are more than twice the hotspot average: Belize (37 percent) and Costa Rica (31 percent). El Salvador has the lowest percentage of protected land area; approximately two percent of the country is under protective status.
Many of the parks in Mesoamerica exist on paper only and need improved enforcement and management in order to effectively conserve biodiversity. The integrity of many protected areas is further threatened by communities that live in or around the parks and must poach for food or clear agricultural lands within park borders in order to meet their basic needs.
In recent decades, there has been important progress in regional cooperation and dialogue toward the creation and expansion of the transnational Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, a regional initiative aimed at conserving biodiversity and ecosystems while at the same time promoting sustainable social development social and economic development. The initiative attempts to protect important areas for biodiversity and provide connectivity between these areas through biodiversity-friendly plantation forests, agroforestry systems, and private reserves, to allow for the dispersal of plants and animals. Mesoamerican countries have been eager to participate in the creation of the corridor because it provides a tangible goal in the face of daunting conservation priorities. Among the important protected areas that comprise this initiative are the Maya Biosphere Reserve in northern Guatemala, a 10,000-km2 expanse of tropical forest; the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in Campeche, Mexico, with 7,000 km2; the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve in Chiapas, Mexico, covering 3,300 km2; the Rio Bravo protected area in Belize; La Amistad International Park and Biosphere reserve in Costa Rica and Panama, the largest block of undisturbed cloud forest in Central America and a convergence point for 75 percent of all migratory birds in the Western Hemisphere; and Guanacaste Conservation Area in northwestern Costa Rica.
One method for identifying priority areas for the expansion of protected areas systems is by identifying sites for species that face the greatest risk of global extinction. Globally threatened species are best protected through the conservation of sites in which they occur; these sites are referred to as "key biodiversity areas" (KBAs). KBAs are discrete biological units that contain one or more globally threatened or restricted-range species, and can potentially be managed for conservation as a single unit. In the Mesoamerica hotspot, Conservation International and partners have been working on KBA identification in the northern portion (Mexico east of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Belize and Guatemala), Costa Rica, and Panama, building off of the Important Bird Areas identified by BirdLife International partners in Mexico and Panama. The process will continue as the collaboration expands to include all the countries of the hotspot during the next year. The La Amistad International Park in Costa Rica and Panama, the only place in the world from which the salamander Oedipina grandis (CR) has been recorded, is an example of the potential for developing a regional network of transboundary protected areas. Here the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund is facilitating a regional approach to protecting Mesoamerica’s biodiversity by supporting bi- and tri-national conservation initiatives. The Cerro El Pital between Honduras and El Salvador, a site protected only on the Honduran side of the border by the Cerro El Pital Biological Reserve, and the only place in the world where the frog Bolitoglossa synoria (CR) occurs, serves as another example of the potential for expanding the network of protected areas through transboundary conservation intitiatives.
Ecotourism has become an important sector in nearly every country in Mesoamerica, notably Costa Rica, which is probably the world's best-known example of the successful promotion of economic benefit from conservation. In 2000, Costa Rica earned about $1.25 billion from ecotourism, and it is estimated that 70 percent of the country’s tourists visit natural protected areas.
In addition, several national-level institutions for biodiversity conservation, including INBIO in Costa Rica and CONABIO in Mexico, are successfully promoting greater awareness and sustainable use of biodiversity, while smaller local institutions, such as the Belize Zoo and Mexico's Miguel Alvarez del Toro Zoological Park, promote knowledge, pride, and conservation of native fauna among the citizens of Mesoamerica.
Notes
This article is based on contributions from Russell Mittermeier, Jan Schipper, Gerritt Davidse, Patricia Koleff, Jorge Soberon, Manuel Ramirez, Barbara Goetsch, and Cristina Mittermeier.
For a complete list of all contributors to the Biodiversity Hotspot program, see Biodiversity Hotspot Site Credits.
Further Reading
Álvarez Del Toro, M., Mittermeier, R.A. & Iverson, J.B. 1979. River Turtle in Danger. Oryx, 15 (2):170-173.
Barrios, R. 1995. 50 Áreas de Interés Especial para la Conservación en Guatemala. Centro de Datos para la Conservación. Washington, D.C.: The Nature Conservancy.
CCT/CIEDES. 1998. Estudio de Cobertura Forestal Actual (1996/97) y de Cambio de Cobertura para el Período entre 1986/87 y 1996/97 para Costa Rica. Universidad de Costa Rica: Centro Cientifico Tropical (CCT) & Centro de Investigaciones en Desarrollo Sostenible (CIEDES).
CONABIO, 1998. Unpublished Report on Neotropical Biodiversity of Mexico. Mexico, D.F.
Castañeda-Moya, F. 1997. Estatus y manejo propuesto de Crocodylus moreletii en el Departamento de Petén, Guatemala. Memorias de la 4a. Reunión Regional del Grupo de Especialistas de Cocodrilos de América Latina y el Caribe. Villahermosa, Tabasco: Centro Regional de Innovación Agroindustrial.
Diego-Gómez, P.L. 1985. Biotic Units of Mesoamérica. Unpublished map. Washington, D.C.: The Nature Conservancy.
Dirzo, R. 1994. Mexico: Diversity of Flora. Monterrey, México: CEMEX.
FAO. 1993. Forest Resource Assessment 1990: Tropical Countries. FAO Forestry Paper. Rome: FAO. ISBN: 9251033900
Harcourt, C.S. & Sayer, J.A. (Eds.). 1996. The Conservation Atlas of Tropical Forests: The Americas. World Conservation Monitoring Center and IUCN. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN: 0133408868
Hernández- Martínez, P. 1998. La Familia Plethodontidae (Amphibia): Caudata) en el Estado de Chiapas, México. México: Tesis de Licenciatura, Escuela de Biología, Universidad de Ciencias y Artes del Estado de Chiapas.
Heselhaus, R. 1992. Poison-arrow Frogs: Their Natural History and Care in Captivity. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. ISBN: 088359031X
Heselhaus, R. & Schmidt, M. 1994. Harlequin Frogs: A Complete Guide. Neptune, New Jersey: T.F.H. Publications. ISBN: 0793802709
Holdridge, L. R. 1947. Determination of world plant formations from simple climatic data. Science, (105) 2727:367-368.
Holdridge, L.R., Lamb, F.B & Mason, B. Jr. 1950. Los Bosques de Guatemala. Turrialba, Costa Rica: IICA.
Holdridge, L.R.1955. El Ciprés Mexicano. Boletín Técnico No. 12. Ministerio de Agricultura y Industrias. San José, Costa Rica.
Holdridge, L.R. 1967. Life Zone Ecology. San José, Costa Rica: Tropical Science Center.
Holdridge, L.R., Grenke, W.C., Hatheway, W.H., Liang, T. & Tosi, J.A., Jr. 1971. Forest Environments in Tropical Life Zones: A Pilot Study. Oxford: Pergamon Press. ISBN: 0080163408
Holdridge, L. R.1972. Ecological differences between the tropical and subtropical regions. Sobretiro de las Memorias de Symposia del I Congreso Latinoamericano y Mexicano de Botánica. Mexico, D.F.
Juniper, T & Parr, M. 1998. Parrots: A Guide to Parrots of the World. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN: 0300074530
Marena, 1998. SINAP-Áreas Protegidas de Nicaragua. Guía Turística.
Miranda, F.& Hernández Xolocotzi, E. 1963. Los tipos de vegetación de Mexico y su clasificación. Boletín Sociedad Botánica de Mexico, 28:29-178.
Mittermeier, R. A. 1979. It might just be...the best little zoo in Latin America. Animal Kingdom, 82(1):15-21.
Mittermeier, R.A. & Mittermeier, C.G. 1992. La importancia de la diversidad biológica en México. In J. Sarukhán & R. Dirzo. (Eds.), Mexico confronts the Challenges of Biodiversity. México: Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad.
Mittermeier, C.G., Mittermeier, R.A., Nations, J., Robles, A., Carvajal, M.A. & Robles Gil, P. 1998. Mexico. In R. A. Mittermeier, P. Robles Gil & C.G. Mittermeier. (Eds.), Megadiversity: Earth’s Biologically Wealthiest Nations. pp. 141-177. Monterrey, Mexico: CEMEX. ISBN: 9686397507
Rzedowski, J. 1978 Vegetación de México. Primera edición. México: Editorial Limusa.
Rzedowski, J. 1986. Vegetación de México. Tercera edición. México: Editorial Limusa.
Toledo, V. M., Rzedowski, J., Villa-Lobos, J., Gómez, L.D., Godoy, J.C. & O. Herrera-Macbryde. 1997. Regional overview: Middle America. In S. D. Davis, V. H. Heywood, O. Herrera-Macbryde, J. Villa-Lobos & A. C. Hamilton. (Eds.), Centres of Plant Diversity: A Guide and Strategy for their Conservation. Vol. 3. The Americas. pp. 97-124 Oxford, U.K.: World Wide Fund for Nature and IUCN-The World Conservation Union. ISBN: 2831701996
Tosi, J.A., Jr. In press. Mapa de Zonas de Vida de Mesoamérica y Panama. In C. May. (Ed.), Atlas Histórico de Centro América y Panamá.
UNESCO 1981. Vegetation map of South America. Natural Resources Research Publication 17.
World Bank, GEF. 1998. Project Appraisal Document on a Proposed Grant from the GEF Trust Fund to Panama for a Panama Atlantic Mesoamerican Biological Corridor Project, April 29, 1998. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.
Wildlife Preservation Trust International. 1992. Special issue: The new Belize zoo. On the Edge, 46:1-12.
WWF. 1997. WWF 2000. The Living Planet Campaign. Washington, D.C.: World Wildlife Fund.
Disclaimer: This article is taken wholly from, or contains information that was originally published by, the Conservation International. Topic editors and authors for the Encyclopedia of Earth may have edited its content or added new information. The use of information from the Conservation International should not be construed as support for or endorsement by that organization for any new information added by EoE personnel, or for any editing of the original content.
Citation
1 Overview
2 Unique and Threatened Biodiversity
2.1 Plants
2.2 Vertebrates
2.2.1 Birds
2.2.2 Mammals
2.2.3 Reptiles
2.2.4 Amphibians
2.2.5 Freshwater Fishes
3 Human Impacts
4 Conservation Action and Protected Areas
5 Notes
6 Further Reading
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Last Updated: August 22, 2008
Overview
Spanning most of Central America, the Mesoamerica Hotspot encompasses all subtropical and tropical ecosystems from central Mexico to the Panama Canal. This includes all of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, as well as a third of Mexico and nearly two-thirds of Panama.
Map of Mesoamerica. (Source: CI/CABS)
In Mexico, the hotspot extends as far north as northern Sinaloa (Río Fuerte) on the Pacific Coast and as far as the middle of the Sierra Madre Oriental (west of Tampico) on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and includes the entire area of the Mexican states of Chiapas, Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Campeche, Veracruz, as well as portions of the states of Oaxaca, Guerrero, Puebla, México, Michoacán, Morelos, Querétaro, Jalisco, Nayarit, Colima, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas, Sinaloa, Durango, Sonora, Chihuahua, and Tamaulipas. The hotspot does not encompass the subtropical pine-oak forest in the higher elevations of the Sierra Madre Oriental and Occidental ranges, here included in the Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands Hotspot.
This hotspot also includes a number of nearshore and offshore islands in both the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, which are important biologically due to the presence of endemic species and as nesting areas for seabirds. These islands include the Revillagigedos, Tres Marías Islands, and Cozumel, all belonging to Mexico, Islas de la Bahía (Honduras), Cocos (Costa Rica), Providencia and San Andrés (Colombia), and Coiba (Panama), as well as Clipperton Island (France).
The hotspot's major ecosystems are a complex mosaic of dry forests, lowland moist forest, and montane forests. Intermittent coastal swamps and mangrove forests along the Pacific coast from Mexico to Panama give way to broad-leaved and coniferous forests at higher altitudes. East of the mountains, the Caribbean lowlands are home to moist, subtropical wet forests and rain forests. In the southern part of the hotspot, broad-leaved premontane and montane hardwood forests occupy steep and cloud-shrouded slopes.
Unique and Threatened Biodiversity
Rio San Pedro in Laguna del Tigre National Park, Guatemala. (Source: Conservation International, photo by Haroldo Castro)
The biodiversity of Mesoamerica represents the confluence of flora and fauna from two biogeographic regions, the Nearctic of North America and the Neotropical of South and Central America and the Caribbean. North and South America were once two separate landmasses, with independently evolved plant and animal species. Then, about 3 million years ago, sections of Central America rose above sea level, forming a land bridge between north and south. Species began to flow in both directions between the continents, and their interaction in this transition zone helped produce Mesoamerica's unique and diverse array of life forms.
Additionally, the highlands and mountain chains that run along the hotspot's main north-south axis have facilitated isolation and speciation throughout Mesoamerica. Because the mountains have often posed an impassable barrier, there are considerable differences in species composition between the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. On the other hand, the valleys and lowlands running parallel to the mountains have long served as natural corridors for animal and human migrations.
Plants
Mesoamerica has a total of about 17,000 species of vascular plants, nearly 3,000 of which are endemic (17 percent). In addition, 65 of 2,523 genera are endemic, 50 of which are represented by a single species. The number of species and genera endemic to this hotspot is lower than might be expected, because a large number of genera spill over into the neighboring Mexican states of Oaxaca, Veracruz and Tamaulipas. The plants of Mesoamerica provide a window into the unique role of this region as a land bridge between the flora and fauna of North and South America. Many Nearctic and Neotropical plants reach their southerly and northerly range limits, respectively, in this hotspot. The highlands of Guatemala are the northernmost reaches for the páramo vegetation of the northern Andes, including the families, Umbelliferae and Compositae. The coniferous forests of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua represent the southernmost extension of several genera of trees, including Pinus, Abies, Juniperus, Cupressus, and Taxus. Commercially valuable timber species are found within the hotspot and, as in the case of big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla, VU), have historically driven the exploitation of the region's forest resources. Other valuable timber species include Pacific mahogany (Swietenia humilisi, VU), extirpated from much of its natural range, Spanish cedar (Cedrela odorata, VU), and rosewood (Dalbergia stevensonii). The hotspot also contains more than 300 cacti species, of which about 60 percent are endemic, or nearly so, to the hotspot (and 85 percent of these are found exclusively within the Mexican portion of the hotspot). Plant endemism is highest within Mesoamerica in the diverse topography of the region's mountains, especially the high mountains of Guatemala and southern Mexico. Three plant families are endemic to the hotspot, each represented by a single species: Haptanthaceae (Haptanthus hazlettii), Lacandoniaceae (Lacandonia schismatica), and Ticodendraceae (Ticodendron incognitum). Lacandonia is particularly unique among flowering plants for having "inside-out" flowers, i.e., the central androecium (stamens) surrounded by the gynoecium (separate pistils).
Vertebrates
Birds
The forests of Mesoamerica are home to nearly 1,120 bird species, including more than 200 species restricted to the region. About 20 bird genera are endemic to the hotspot, and BirdLife International has identified 17 Endemic Bird Areas in Mexico and Central America, covering nearly the entire extent of the hotspot. The best known species from this region and conservation symbols for their cloud forest habitats are the resplendent quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno), whose brilliant green and crimson plumage is the national emblem of Guatemala, and the horned guan (Oreophasis derbianus, EN), a large bird – sole representative of its genus – with a distinctive red horn protruding from the top of its head. Both of these endemic species are threatened by habitat destruction. Of the more than 40 species of threatened birds found in this hotspot, endemics include the Honduran emerald (Amazilia luciae, CR), the Cozumel thrasher (Toxostoma guttatum, CR) and the Socorro mockingbird (Mimodes graysoni, CR). The forests of Mesoamerica, the third largest in any of the hotspots, also provide critical winter habitat and stop-over points for about 225 species of migratory birds. Three of the four major trans-regional migratory bird routes in the Western hemisphere converge here.
Mammals
Hunting and deforestation have dramatically impacted the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis). In central America, it is restricted to dense patches of forest. (Source: Photograph by Fulvio Eccardi)
Mesoamerica holds roughly 440 species, and more than 65 (15 percent) of these are endemic. A number of these endemics are confined to offshore islands, including two threatened species on Cozumel: the Cozumel harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys spectabilis, EN) and Cozumel raccoon (Procyon pygmaeus, EN). Some of the most visible symbols of mammal diversity in Mesoamerica are its monkeys, including the Central American spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) and Mexican black howler monkey (Alouatta pigra, EN), which produce impressive roars that can be heard for miles, and Central American squirrel monkey (Saimiri oerstedii, EN). Two other large mammals, the Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii, EN) and the jaguar (Panthera onca) are both important flagships for the regions forests. However, much of the mammal endemism in Mesoamerica is attributable to the diversity of small mammals. Some 20 species of shrews and more than 180 species of rodents (including nearly 20 species of pocket gophers, and around 20 species of squirrels) are found in Mesoamerica; many of these are endemic. Three endemic species, Van Gelder’s bat (Bauerus dubiaquercus), the Yucatán vesper rat (Otonyctomys hatti), and Bang’s mountain squirrel (Syntheosciurus brochus), are all representatives of endemic genera.
Reptiles
Mesoamerica has very high reptile and amphibian diversity and endemism. The area is the most diverse hotspot for reptiles, with more than 690 species found here, and nearly 240 (35 percent) endemic. Many genera are endemic, as is one monotypic turtle family, the Dermatemydidae, represented by the Central American river turtle (Dermatemys mawii, EN) from the rivers of southern Mexico and adjacent Guatemala and Belize, and one of the most highly threatened freshwater turtles in the world. Another endemic reptile found in many of the same rivers is Morelet’s crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii). There are also many important nesting beaches for marine turtles, including Tortuguero, Costa Rica —one of the most important nesting beaches for green turtles (Chelonia mydas, EN) in the Western Hemisphere. Other beaches on both the Caribbean and Pacific coasts also provide important nesting areas for hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata, CR), olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea, EN), and leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea, CR) sea turtles.
Amphibians
Amphibian diversity and endemism also reach exceptional levels in Mesoamerica, with more than 550 species, over 350 of which are endemic. Over 20 percent of the 52 amphibian genera in the hotspot are endemic. Guatemala and the adjacent Mexican state of Chiapas are especially rich in salamanders, and are considered a center of origin and dispersal for tropical salamander species. In total, the hotspot has approximately 160 species of the order Caudata (the newts and salamanders), and some 120 are endemic; all endemics belong to the family Plethodontidae (lungless salamanders). One of the most poignant symbols of conservation in Mesoamerica and worldwide is the golden toad (Bufo periglenes, EX). A beautiful, bright orange toad found only in Costa Rica's Monteverde Cloud Forest, the golden toad hasn't been seen since 1989, when it disappeared virtually overnight. The plight of the toad, which is presumed to be extinct, is an oft-cited example of the worldwide phenomenon of declining amphibian populations. In total, more than 230 species of the amphibians present in this hotspot (just less than half) are threatened with extinction, particularly the salamanders in the genus Bolitoglossa and the frogs in the speciose genus Eleutherodactylus.
Freshwater Fishes
Freshwater fishes are an important component of Mesoamerica’s vertebrate diversity. The hotspot is home to more than 500 species, nearly 350 of which are endemic; there are also 25 endemic genera. More than 200 of the hotspot's fish species belong to two families: the cichlids (with 12 endemic genera) and the live-bearing Poeciliidae. Nearly a quarter of Mesoamerica’s fishes have distributions restricted to single bodies of water or small tributaries in larger watersheds.
Human Impacts
The thick-billed parrot (Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha, EN) once occurred in Arizona and New Mexico but is now restricted to northern and central Mexico. The species is suffering rapid decline. (Source: Photograph by Fulvio Eccardi)
Prior to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores 500 years ago, Mesoamerica supported intensive indigenous agriculture and hunting. With the arrival of Cortez, indigenous populations were decimated by disease, warfare, and slavery, and some of their agricultural clearings were abandoned to regeneration, yielding in some areas a net increase in forest lands. However, during the 19th century, the conversion of forests for large-scale agricultural and livestock developments, including coffee, bananas, oil palm, and beef cattle, began in earnest. Much of the western Pacific plain was cleared by the end of the 1800s, and the focus of conversion during the 1900s was shifted to the tropical moist forests of the Caribbean lowlands.
The advent of mechanized forestry in the 20th century allowed timber operations to abandon rivers and lagoons as the only method of transportation for logs in the tropical forests of Mesoamerica. Aside from riparian areas and adjacent areas that could be reached by oxen, most forests had remained intact largely because they were unharvestable with the available technology. Once timber extraction was mechanized, the presence of big-leaf mahogany, even today the most valuable timber species in the Neotropical forest, was a powerful incentive for logging to open virgin forests. Old-growth mahogany trees could be large enough and valuable enough to prompt extensive exploration; their procurement was the beginning of a multitude of pressures on these forests that escalated once they were relieved of their most valuable species.
In recent decades, Mesoamerica has seen some of the highest deforestation rates in the world; between 1980 and 1990, deforestation averaged 1.4 percent annually, and it is estimated that 80 percent of the area's original habitat has been cleared or severely modified. Of all the countries in the hotspot, El Salvador is the most devastated; it has less than five percent of its original forest cover remaining.
Recently, large-scale industrial developments, including oil development in Mexico and Guatemala and timber and mineral extraction, have increased the threat to forests. Deforestation often follows a familiar and devastating pattern in Mesoamerica, driven by inequities in land distribution and very high population growth rates (as high as seven to ten percent per year in some parts of southern Mexico and northern Guatemala). Roads built for development projects open up access to previously pristine lands and serve as migration routes for landless peasants, who clear adjacent lands for subsistence agriculture. Once the lands, which typically have very poor soils, become unproductive, the peasants clear other areas, selling their original plots to consolidators who develop large cattle ranches in their wake.
Conservation Action and Protected Areas
La Amistad International Park and Biosphere Reserve, where this photo was taken, protects the largest block of cloud forest in Mesoamerica. (© Conservation International, photo by Haroldo Castro)
About 13 percent, or 142,000 km2, of the total land area of the Mesoamerica hotspot is currently under some form of protection, though only 64,000 km2 (six percent) of this is in IUCN categories I to IV. In two countries, national percentages for protected land are more than twice the hotspot average: Belize (37 percent) and Costa Rica (31 percent). El Salvador has the lowest percentage of protected land area; approximately two percent of the country is under protective status.
Many of the parks in Mesoamerica exist on paper only and need improved enforcement and management in order to effectively conserve biodiversity. The integrity of many protected areas is further threatened by communities that live in or around the parks and must poach for food or clear agricultural lands within park borders in order to meet their basic needs.
In recent decades, there has been important progress in regional cooperation and dialogue toward the creation and expansion of the transnational Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, a regional initiative aimed at conserving biodiversity and ecosystems while at the same time promoting sustainable social development social and economic development. The initiative attempts to protect important areas for biodiversity and provide connectivity between these areas through biodiversity-friendly plantation forests, agroforestry systems, and private reserves, to allow for the dispersal of plants and animals. Mesoamerican countries have been eager to participate in the creation of the corridor because it provides a tangible goal in the face of daunting conservation priorities. Among the important protected areas that comprise this initiative are the Maya Biosphere Reserve in northern Guatemala, a 10,000-km2 expanse of tropical forest; the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in Campeche, Mexico, with 7,000 km2; the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve in Chiapas, Mexico, covering 3,300 km2; the Rio Bravo protected area in Belize; La Amistad International Park and Biosphere reserve in Costa Rica and Panama, the largest block of undisturbed cloud forest in Central America and a convergence point for 75 percent of all migratory birds in the Western Hemisphere; and Guanacaste Conservation Area in northwestern Costa Rica.
One method for identifying priority areas for the expansion of protected areas systems is by identifying sites for species that face the greatest risk of global extinction. Globally threatened species are best protected through the conservation of sites in which they occur; these sites are referred to as "key biodiversity areas" (KBAs). KBAs are discrete biological units that contain one or more globally threatened or restricted-range species, and can potentially be managed for conservation as a single unit. In the Mesoamerica hotspot, Conservation International and partners have been working on KBA identification in the northern portion (Mexico east of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Belize and Guatemala), Costa Rica, and Panama, building off of the Important Bird Areas identified by BirdLife International partners in Mexico and Panama. The process will continue as the collaboration expands to include all the countries of the hotspot during the next year. The La Amistad International Park in Costa Rica and Panama, the only place in the world from which the salamander Oedipina grandis (CR) has been recorded, is an example of the potential for developing a regional network of transboundary protected areas. Here the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund is facilitating a regional approach to protecting Mesoamerica’s biodiversity by supporting bi- and tri-national conservation initiatives. The Cerro El Pital between Honduras and El Salvador, a site protected only on the Honduran side of the border by the Cerro El Pital Biological Reserve, and the only place in the world where the frog Bolitoglossa synoria (CR) occurs, serves as another example of the potential for expanding the network of protected areas through transboundary conservation intitiatives.
Ecotourism has become an important sector in nearly every country in Mesoamerica, notably Costa Rica, which is probably the world's best-known example of the successful promotion of economic benefit from conservation. In 2000, Costa Rica earned about $1.25 billion from ecotourism, and it is estimated that 70 percent of the country’s tourists visit natural protected areas.
In addition, several national-level institutions for biodiversity conservation, including INBIO in Costa Rica and CONABIO in Mexico, are successfully promoting greater awareness and sustainable use of biodiversity, while smaller local institutions, such as the Belize Zoo and Mexico's Miguel Alvarez del Toro Zoological Park, promote knowledge, pride, and conservation of native fauna among the citizens of Mesoamerica.
Notes
This article is based on contributions from Russell Mittermeier, Jan Schipper, Gerritt Davidse, Patricia Koleff, Jorge Soberon, Manuel Ramirez, Barbara Goetsch, and Cristina Mittermeier.
For a complete list of all contributors to the Biodiversity Hotspot program, see Biodiversity Hotspot Site Credits.
Further Reading
Álvarez Del Toro, M., Mittermeier, R.A. & Iverson, J.B. 1979. River Turtle in Danger. Oryx, 15 (2):170-173.
Barrios, R. 1995. 50 Áreas de Interés Especial para la Conservación en Guatemala. Centro de Datos para la Conservación. Washington, D.C.: The Nature Conservancy.
CCT/CIEDES. 1998. Estudio de Cobertura Forestal Actual (1996/97) y de Cambio de Cobertura para el Período entre 1986/87 y 1996/97 para Costa Rica. Universidad de Costa Rica: Centro Cientifico Tropical (CCT) & Centro de Investigaciones en Desarrollo Sostenible (CIEDES).
CONABIO, 1998. Unpublished Report on Neotropical Biodiversity of Mexico. Mexico, D.F.
Castañeda-Moya, F. 1997. Estatus y manejo propuesto de Crocodylus moreletii en el Departamento de Petén, Guatemala. Memorias de la 4a. Reunión Regional del Grupo de Especialistas de Cocodrilos de América Latina y el Caribe. Villahermosa, Tabasco: Centro Regional de Innovación Agroindustrial.
Diego-Gómez, P.L. 1985. Biotic Units of Mesoamérica. Unpublished map. Washington, D.C.: The Nature Conservancy.
Dirzo, R. 1994. Mexico: Diversity of Flora. Monterrey, México: CEMEX.
FAO. 1993. Forest Resource Assessment 1990: Tropical Countries. FAO Forestry Paper. Rome: FAO. ISBN: 9251033900
Harcourt, C.S. & Sayer, J.A. (Eds.). 1996. The Conservation Atlas of Tropical Forests: The Americas. World Conservation Monitoring Center and IUCN. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN: 0133408868
Hernández- Martínez, P. 1998. La Familia Plethodontidae (Amphibia): Caudata) en el Estado de Chiapas, México. México: Tesis de Licenciatura, Escuela de Biología, Universidad de Ciencias y Artes del Estado de Chiapas.
Heselhaus, R. 1992. Poison-arrow Frogs: Their Natural History and Care in Captivity. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. ISBN: 088359031X
Heselhaus, R. & Schmidt, M. 1994. Harlequin Frogs: A Complete Guide. Neptune, New Jersey: T.F.H. Publications. ISBN: 0793802709
Holdridge, L. R. 1947. Determination of world plant formations from simple climatic data. Science, (105) 2727:367-368.
Holdridge, L.R., Lamb, F.B & Mason, B. Jr. 1950. Los Bosques de Guatemala. Turrialba, Costa Rica: IICA.
Holdridge, L.R.1955. El Ciprés Mexicano. Boletín Técnico No. 12. Ministerio de Agricultura y Industrias. San José, Costa Rica.
Holdridge, L.R. 1967. Life Zone Ecology. San José, Costa Rica: Tropical Science Center.
Holdridge, L.R., Grenke, W.C., Hatheway, W.H., Liang, T. & Tosi, J.A., Jr. 1971. Forest Environments in Tropical Life Zones: A Pilot Study. Oxford: Pergamon Press. ISBN: 0080163408
Holdridge, L. R.1972. Ecological differences between the tropical and subtropical regions. Sobretiro de las Memorias de Symposia del I Congreso Latinoamericano y Mexicano de Botánica. Mexico, D.F.
Juniper, T & Parr, M. 1998. Parrots: A Guide to Parrots of the World. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN: 0300074530
Marena, 1998. SINAP-Áreas Protegidas de Nicaragua. Guía Turística.
Miranda, F.& Hernández Xolocotzi, E. 1963. Los tipos de vegetación de Mexico y su clasificación. Boletín Sociedad Botánica de Mexico, 28:29-178.
Mittermeier, R. A. 1979. It might just be...the best little zoo in Latin America. Animal Kingdom, 82(1):15-21.
Mittermeier, R.A. & Mittermeier, C.G. 1992. La importancia de la diversidad biológica en México. In J. Sarukhán & R. Dirzo. (Eds.), Mexico confronts the Challenges of Biodiversity. México: Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad.
Mittermeier, C.G., Mittermeier, R.A., Nations, J., Robles, A., Carvajal, M.A. & Robles Gil, P. 1998. Mexico. In R. A. Mittermeier, P. Robles Gil & C.G. Mittermeier. (Eds.), Megadiversity: Earth’s Biologically Wealthiest Nations. pp. 141-177. Monterrey, Mexico: CEMEX. ISBN: 9686397507
Rzedowski, J. 1978 Vegetación de México. Primera edición. México: Editorial Limusa.
Rzedowski, J. 1986. Vegetación de México. Tercera edición. México: Editorial Limusa.
Toledo, V. M., Rzedowski, J., Villa-Lobos, J., Gómez, L.D., Godoy, J.C. & O. Herrera-Macbryde. 1997. Regional overview: Middle America. In S. D. Davis, V. H. Heywood, O. Herrera-Macbryde, J. Villa-Lobos & A. C. Hamilton. (Eds.), Centres of Plant Diversity: A Guide and Strategy for their Conservation. Vol. 3. The Americas. pp. 97-124 Oxford, U.K.: World Wide Fund for Nature and IUCN-The World Conservation Union. ISBN: 2831701996
Tosi, J.A., Jr. In press. Mapa de Zonas de Vida de Mesoamérica y Panama. In C. May. (Ed.), Atlas Histórico de Centro América y Panamá.
UNESCO 1981. Vegetation map of South America. Natural Resources Research Publication 17.
World Bank, GEF. 1998. Project Appraisal Document on a Proposed Grant from the GEF Trust Fund to Panama for a Panama Atlantic Mesoamerican Biological Corridor Project, April 29, 1998. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.
Wildlife Preservation Trust International. 1992. Special issue: The new Belize zoo. On the Edge, 46:1-12.
WWF. 1997. WWF 2000. The Living Planet Campaign. Washington, D.C.: World Wildlife Fund.
Disclaimer: This article is taken wholly from, or contains information that was originally published by, the Conservation International. Topic editors and authors for the Encyclopedia of Earth may have edited its content or added new information. The use of information from the Conservation International should not be construed as support for or endorsement by that organization for any new information added by EoE personnel, or for any editing of the original content.
Citation
biological diversity in maputaland-pondoland-albany
Table of Contents
1 Overview
2 Unique and Threatened Biodiversity
2.1 Plants
2.2 Vertebrates
2.2.1 Birds
2.2.2 Mammals
2.2.3 Reptiles
2.2.4 Amphibians
2.2.5 Freshwater Fishes
2.3 Invertebrates
3 Human Impacts
4 Conservation Action and Protected Areas
5 Further Reading
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Content Partner: Conservation International (other articles)
Article Topics: Biodiversity and Ecology
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Last Updated: August 22, 2008
Overview
Map of Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany. (Source: CI/CABS)
The Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot lies along the east coast of southern Africa, below the Great Escarpment, extending from extreme southern Mozambique (south of the Limpopo River, where it adjuts on the Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa Hotspot) and Mpumalanga province in South Africa (south of the Olifants River) in the north, through eastern Swaziland to the Eastern Cape province of South Africa in the south. The region is floristically, climatologically and geologically complex. There are at least three clear foci of high endemism and high diversity in the area, the names of which have been amalgamated as the name of this hotspot: Maputaland (Tongaland) in the north, Pondoland further south, and Albany in the southwest.
The topography of the region ranges from ancient sand dunes and low-lying plains in the north to a series of rugged terraces deeply incised by river valleys in the central and southern parts. The [[[Biodiversity hotspots (collection)Hotspot]] also incorporates several mountain ranges, including the Sneeuberg, Winterberg, Amatola Mountains, Ngeli Range, Lebombo Mountains and Ngoye Range. The area is bordered on the west by the Great Escarpment, which separates the elevated interior plateau of southern Africa from the coastal lowlands.
The hotspot's vegetation is comprised mainly of forests, thickets, bushveld and grasslands. About 80 percent of South Africa's remaining forests fall within this Hotspot. These warm temperate forests, which are home to nearly 600 tree species, have the highest tree diversity of any of the world's temperate forests. The area also has a remarkable succulent flora, principally in the Albany region; these are mainly stem succulents, as opposed to the dominant leaf succulents found in the Succulent Karoo in the western parts of southern Africa. One type of forest (Licuáti forest), three types of thicket, six types of bushveld, and five types of grassland are restricted to the Hotspot.
Unique and Threatened Biodiversity
Plants
The Tembe Elephant Reserve located in the eastern South Africa is among a number of protected areas in the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot. (Source: © Patricio Robles Gil/Sierra Madre)
Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany is an important center of plant endemism, and the second richest floristic region in Africa after the Cape Floristic Region. In total, about 8,100 species of plants from 243 families occur within this Hotspot, and nearly a quarter of these – at least 1,900 species – are found nowhere else. This includes 39 endemic genera (among 1,500 genera in total), and one endemic family: the Rhynchocalycaceae, which is represented by a single species, Rhynchocalyx lawsonioides (VU), found only in Pondoland in southern KwaZulu-Natal and the eastern Transkei area of the Eastern Cape.
Grass crinum (Crinum acaule) is found in northern KwaZulu-Natal, mainly on the Maputaland coastal plain. Much of its habitat has undergone major afforestation with the introduction of exotics and the expansion of settled areas. (Source: © Patricio Robles Gil/Sierra Madre)
Many of the hotspot’s plants have been developed successfully for horticulture around the world. One of the best known is the bitter aloe (Aloe ferox), which is used to make a purgative drug called Cape Aloes and is arguably the most important medicinal plant in South Africa. The bird-of-paradise flower (Strelitzia reginae) is endemic to the Hotspot and can grow up to two meters in its natural habitat in the Eastern Cape coastal bush. It is a popular horticultural subject in many parts of the world and has even been adopted as the civic emblem of Los Angeles. The once plentiful Sandersonia aurantiaca, a monotypic endemic genus whose beautiful orange-yellow flowers has led to the species common name of Christmas bells, is becoming increasingly rare.
At least half of the 40 species of red-hot poker (Kniphofia spp.) that occur within Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany are endemic to the Hotspot. One of the most notable is Kniphofia rooperi, a large and sturdy plant that has orange-yellow flowers, unlike the bright red flowers found on most other red-hot pokers.
Vertebrates
Birds
Birds are the most diverse group of vertebrates in the Hotspot, with more than 540 regularly occurring species. The hotspot is part of BirdLife International’s Southeast African Coast Endemic Bird Area, with four restricted-range species: Rudd’s apalis (Apalis ruddi), pink-throated twinspot (Hypargos margaritatus), Neergaard’s sunbird (Nectarinia neergaardi) and lemon-breasted seedeater (Serinus citrinipectus).
An important bird species found in the Hotspot is the southern race of brown-necked parrot (Poicephalus robustus robustus). These birds, which can be distinguished from the northern race by their brownish heads, are dependent on the yellowwoods (Podocarpus spp.) of the hotspot for nesting sites and food. Illegal harvesting of yellowwoods severely threatens the future of this subspecies.
Woodward’s barbet (Stactolaema olivacea woodwardi) is found in southern Africa only in the Ngoye Forest between Eshowe and Empangeni in KwaZulu-Natal. Although the species also occurs on the Rondo Plateau in Tanzania, the precise taxonomic status of these two disjunct populations is unclear.
Mammals
The Samango monkey (Cercopithecus mitis labiatus) is a distinctive subspecies in the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot. (Source: © Patricio Robles Gil/Sierra Madre)
Of the nearly 200 mammal species found in the Hotspot, only four are endemic, including the red bush squirrel (Paraxerus palliates, VU), the four-toed elephant shrew (Petrodromus tetradactylus), Marley’s golden mole (Amblysomus marleyi) and the giant golden mole (Chrysospalax trevelyani, EN).
One of the most notable mammal species in the Hotspot is the southern subspecies of the white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum). Once common and widely distributed throughout southern and East Africa, the species was greatly reduced due to hunting for its prized horn. Once near extinction, with only a few dozen individuals remaining in KwaZulu-Natal’s Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park, the subspecies was saved in one of the greatest success stories in conservation. Today, there are more than 12,000 individuals, many of which have been relocated to parks and reserves outside KwaZulu-Natal and beyond the borders of South Africa.
Two dainty antelopes are also important mammal species for Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany. The southern population of the blue duiker (Philantomba monticola) is confined to the hotspot and severely threatened by habitat destruction and fragmentation, poaching and snaring. The endemic southern race of the suni (Neotragus moschatus zuluensis), which relies on forests with high stem density and low ground cover, is quite restricted in its distribution because of destruction of its habitat.
Reptiles
More than 200 reptile species are found in the hotspot, and roughly 30 are endemic. The area is home to at least seven species of dwarf chameleon (Bradypodion spp.), all of which have very restricted distributions. The Hotspot also has one endemic genus, the Natal black snake (Macrelaps microlepidotus). Other interesting endemic reptiles include the Natal hinged tortoise (Kinixys natalensis), which is found throughout the Lebombo Mountain range, and the very rare endemic Albany adder (Bitis albanica), which is confined to the Algoa Bay area of the Eastern Cape. Tasman’s girdled lizard (Cordylus tasmani) is also endemic to the Algoa Bay area, where it lives under dead leaves on tall aloes or on dead aloe stems lying on rocky slopes.
Amphibians
All 72 of the hotspot’s amphibian species are frogs, eleven of which are endemic. This includes 8 threatened species that represent monotypic endemic genera: Boneberg’s frog (Natalobatrachus bonebergi, EN) and Rattray’s or hogsback frog (Anhydrophryne rattrayi, EN). Boneberg’s frog is restricted to forests along the coasts, where recent housing developments and sugarcane plantations have destroyed much of its habitat. Rattray’s frog is confined to thick vegetation along streams in the Amatola and Katberg Mountains in Eastern Cape Province, where commercial timber plantations threaten its survival. Other noticeable species include two endemics, the Natal banana frog (Afrixalus spinifrons, VU) and the Pickersgill’s reed frog (Hyperolius pickersgilli, EN), and the recently described soprano or whistling frog (Breviceps sopranos), which utters a long, high-pitched whistle.
Freshwater Fishes
Of the more than 70 freshwater fish species native to the Hotspot, about 20 are endemic, including four species of barb (Barbus spp.). The border barb (Barbus trevelyani, CR), which inhabits pools and riffles of clear rocky streams, is restricted to the Keiskamma and Buffalo river systems in the Eastern Cape. The endemic Eastern Cape rocky (Sandelia bainsii, EN) is one of only two species in its genus; the other species is endemic to streams in the Cape Floristic Region Hotspot.
Invertebrates
The Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot has an exceptionally rich and diverse invertebrate fauna. There are a number of butterfly and moth species found here, including the spectacular Charaxes pondoensis, which is confined to a small area of coastal forest near Port St. Johns. The hotspot is also home to many species of the phylum Onychophora (velvet worms), a fascinating group of ancient, caterpillar-like animals that are the most primitive group to walk with the body raised up on legs. Most species of the Onychophora genus Opisthopatus are found in this hotspot; one of two species in the genus, O. roseus (CR), is extremely rare and known only from Ngeli Forest near Kokstad.
The hotspot is a major center of diversity for the family Microchaetidae, a family of gigantic earthworms endemic to southern Africa that inhabit moist, undisturbed primary grasslands and forests. Microchaetus vernoni, which is found only in grassland in Vernon Crookes Nature Reserve in southern KwaZulu-Natal, can grow up to 2.6 meters in length and 1 centimeter in diameter.
Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany also has a very rich and varied scarab or dung beetle (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) fauna. The rare flightless dung beetle (Circellium bacchus) has a very restricted distribution and has captured the imagination of visitors to the Addo Elephant Park in the Eastern Cape, where road signs warn motorists not to drive over elephant and buffalo dung pads in the roads, for fear of crushing the beetles.
Human Impacts
Roughly 20 percent of the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot's original vegetation has been transformed by cultivation and urbanization, and more than half of what remains has been degraded through the loss of woodlands, soil erosion, overgrazing, and invasive species. (Source: © Patricio Robles Gil/Sierra Madre)
With one of the highest human densities in sub-Saharan Africa, the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany hotspot is under threat from a number of activities, principally cultivation, plantation forestry and urbanization, and only about one-quarter of the hotspot's original vegetation remains in pristine condition.
Cultivation in South Africa increased by 122 percent between 1987 and 1994. Both large-scale commercial agriculture and subsistence farming pose a threat to the forests, thickets and grasslands of the hotspot. Subsistence farming in communal areas consists mostly of shifting cultivation, which, while not expanding at the moment, affects hundreds of square kilometers. In these areas, land that has not been affected by cultivation is often under severe grazing pressure from domestic livestock; almost half of the region is communally owned and supports livestock in numbers far in excess of what is considered ecologically sustainable. Commercial sugarcane farming has completely transformed large tracts of land, especially in the coastal regions north and south of Durban.
Industrial timber production also poses a threat, particularly through the establishment of large-scale timber plantations, which have already destroyed several hundred thousand hectares of species-rich primary grasslands. In addition to transforming habitats, stands of alien tree species, including pine trees (Pinus spp.), eucalyptus (Eucalyptus spp.) and Australian wattles (Acacia spp.) alter the natural hydrological regime by using more groundwater than native species and affect the chemical and physical status of soils.
Urbanization around the hotspot's three major urban centers, Maputo in southern Mozambique and Durban and Port Elizabeth in South Africa, may also pose a threat, particularly through the development of unplanned sprawling slums that stretch out into the countryside around cities.
Other threats include invasive alien plant species and localized mining activities, specifically titanium extraction from coastal sands. In southern Mozambique, large-scale conversion of trees into charcoal to supply the growing demand for firewood in the larger Maputo area also poses a threat.
Conservation Action and Protected Areas
The southern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum simum) was near extinction at the beginning of the 20th century, but has rebounded due to conservation efforts. (Source: © Conservation International, photo by Russell Mittermeier)
About eight percent of Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany, or 23,051 km2, is under some form of protection, with most of these protected areas in IUCN categories I to IV. Although several of the hotspot's national parks, including the 24,000-hectare Greater Addo Park and the 6,536-hectare Mountain Zebra National Park, are managed by South African National Parks, a statutory body within the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, most protected areas in KwaZulu-Natal fall under the jurisdiction of Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife. The main conservation areas in southern Mozambique, which include the Licuáti Forest Reserve and the Maputo Elephant Reserve, are managed by the Direcção Nacional de Florestes e Fauna Bravia of the Ministério da Agricultura e Pescas. The 256,644-hectare Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
However, law enforcement and protection in conservation areas in Mozambique is poor, and the protected area system in the Hotspot is not representative of the biodiversity of the region. This is particularly true in Pondoland, where only a few small conservation areas exist. Grasslands, woody grasslands and coastal forests and thickets are underrepresented in the system. This is in large part due to the fact that most conservation areas have been established with the protection of big game in mind, rather than the preservation of floristically interesting and unique areas.
Current conservation initiatives include efforts to establish a transfrontier protected area linking nature reserves in Swaziland, southern Mozambique and northern KwaZulu-Natal, the establishment of the Baviaanskloof Megareserve and the expansion of the Greater Addo Park and the Mountain Zebra Reserve. The recently completed Subtropical Thicket Ecosystem Planning (STEP) project produced a conservation plan, involving dozens of stakeholders, for the region. The plan identified priority areas for the establishment of new protected areas and raised awareness of the importance of intact thicket ecosystems.
An important private initiative in the region is the conservancy program, which originated in KwaZulu-Natal in 1978, and involves the establishment of committees of landowners who pledge to protect the natural environment or certain natural features, such as a particular species. There are now about 218 conservancies in KwaZulu-Natal alone, covering about 1.5 million hectares.
Further Reading
Acocks, J.P.H. 1953. Veld types of South Africa. Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa 28: 1-192. (3rd edition with updated names and illustrations published in 1988 as Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa 57: 1-146). ISBN: 062102256X
Apps, P. (Ed.). 1996. Smithers' Mammals of Southern Africa: A Field Guide. Southern Book Publishers, Halfway House. ISBN: 1868126595
Barnes, K.N. (Ed.). 1998. The Important Bird Areas of Southern Africa. Johannesburg: BirdLife South Africa. ISBN: 1868126595
Batten, A. 1986. Flowers of Southern Africa. Sandton: Frandsen Publishers. ISBN: 0620089822
Branch, B. 1998. Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa. 3rd edition. Cape Town: Struik Publishers. ISBN: 0883590425
Bruton, M.N. & Cooper, K.H. 1980. Studies on the Ecology of Maputaland. Durban: Rhodes University, Grahamstown & Natal Branch of the Wildlife Society of South Africa. ISBN: 0868100358
Channing, A. 2001. Amphibians of Central and Southern Africa. Pretoria: Protea Bookhouse. ISBN: 0801438659
Coates Palgrave, K. 2002. Trees of Southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers. ISBN: 1868723895
Clancey, P.A. (Ed.) 1980. S.A.O.S. Checklist of Southern African Birds. Pretoria: Southern African Ornithological Society.
Dahlgren, R. & Van Wyk, A.E. 1988. Structures and relationships of families endemic to or centered in Southern Africa. Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Garden 25: 1-94.
Eliovson, S. 1980. Wild Flowers of Southern Africa. How to Grow and Identify Them. 6th edition. Hong Kong: Dai Nippon Printing Co. Ltd.
Esterhuysen, P. (Ed.). 1998a. Africa A-Z. Continental and Country Profiles. Africa Old Mill Road, Western Cape: Institute of South Africa.
Esterhuysen, P. 1998b. Africa at a Glance. Facts & Figures 1997/8. 10th edition. Old Mill Road, Western Cape: Africa Institute of South Africa
Ginn, P.J., McIlleron, W.G. & Milstein, P. le S. (Compilers). 1989. The Complete Book of Southern African Birds. Cape Town: Struik Publishers. ISBN: 0947430113
Goldblatt, P. & Manning, J. 2002. Plant diversity of the Cape Region of South Africa. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 89: 281-302.
Hamer, M.L., Samways, M.J. & Ruhberg, H. 1997. A review of the onycophora of South Africa, with a discussion of their conservation. Ann. Natal. Mus. 38: 283-312.
Harrison, J.A., Allan, D.G., Underhill, L.G., Herremans, M., Tree, A.J., Parker, V. & Brown, C.J. (Eds.). 1997. The Atlas of Southern African Birds (2 vols). Johannesburg: BirdLife South Africa.
Henning, G.A., Pringle, E.L.L. & Ball, J.B. (Eds.). 1994. Pennington's Butterflies of Southern Africa. 2nd edition. Cape Town: Struik-Winchester. ISBN: 0947430466
Izidine, S.A. 2003. Licuáti Forest Reserve, Mozambique: Flora, Utilization and Conservation. MSc Thesis, Department of Botany. University of Pretoria, Pretoria.
Le Roux, J. (Compiler). 2002. The Biodiversity of South Africa 2002. Indicators, Trends and Human Impacts. Cape Town: Struik Publishers.
Linder, P. 2003. The radiation of the cape flora, Southern Africa. Biological Reviews 78: 597-639.
Low, A.B. & Rebelo, A.G. 1998. Vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. 2nd edition. Pretoria: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.
Marais, J. 1999. Snakes and Snakebites in Southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers.
Matthews, W.S., Van Wyk, A.E., & Van Rooyen, N. 1999. Vegetation of the Sileza Nature Reserve and neighbouring areas, South Africa, and its importance in conserving the woody grasslands of the Maputaland centre of endemism. Bothalia 29: 151-167.
Minter, L.R. 2003. Two new cryptic species of Breviceps (Anura: Microhylidae) from Southern Africa. African Journal of Herpetology 52: 9-21.
Mittermeier, R.A., Myers, N., Gil, P.R. & Mittermeier, C.G. 1999. Hotspots. Earth's Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions. Conservation International, Sierra Madre. ISBN: 9686397582
Newman, K. 1998. Newman's Birds of Southern Africa. 7th edition. Southern Book Publishers, Halfway House. ISBN: 1868727351
Picker, M., Griffiths, C. & Weaving, A. 2002. Field Guide to Insects of South Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers. ISBN: 1868727130
Plisko, J.D. 1998. New and little-known species of Microchaetus Rapp, 1849, with a key to all species and notes on the significance of certain morphological features (Oligochaeta: Microchaetidae). Ann. Natal Mus. 39: 249-300.
Silander, J.A. Jr. 2001. Temperate rainforests. In Encyclopedia of Biodiversity. 5: 607-626. San Diego: Academc Press.
Sinclair, I. & Ryan, P. 2003. Birds of Africa South of the Sahara: a Comprehensive Illustrated Field Guide. Cape Town; Struik Publishers. ISBN: 1868728579
Skelton, P. 2001. A Complete Guide to the Freshwater Fishes of Southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers. ISBN: 1868726436
Smith, G.F., van Jaarsveld, E.J., Arnold, T.H., Steffens, F.E., Dixon, R.D. & Retief, J.A. (Eds.). 1997. List of Southern African Succulent Plants. Pretoria: Umdaus Press.
Van Riet, W., Claassen, P., Van Rensburg, J., Van Viegen, T. & Du Plessis, L. 1997. Environmental Potential Atlas for South Africa. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik Publishers. ISBN: 0627023150
Van Wyk, A.E. & Smith, G.F. 2001. Regions of Floristic Endemism in Southern Africa. A Review with Emphasis on Succulents. Pretoria: Umdaus Press. ISBN: 1919766189
Victor, J.E. & Dold, A.P. 2003. Threatened plants of the Albany Centre of Floristic Endemism, South Africa. South African Journal of Science 99: 437-446.
Vlok, J.H.J., Euston-Brown, D.I.W. & Cowling, R.M. 2003. Acocks' Valley Bushveld 50 years on: New perspectives on the delimitation, characterisation and origin of thicket vegetation. South African Journal of Botany 69: 27-51.
Werger, M.J.A. (Ed.). 1978. Biogeography and Ecology of Southern Africa (2 vols). The Hague: Junk.
Disclaimer: This article is taken wholly from, or contains information that was originally published by, the Conservation International. Topic editors and authors for the Encyclopedia of Earth may have edited its content or added new information. The use of information from the Conservation International should not be construed as support for or endorsement by that organization for any new information added by EoE personnel
1 Overview
2 Unique and Threatened Biodiversity
2.1 Plants
2.2 Vertebrates
2.2.1 Birds
2.2.2 Mammals
2.2.3 Reptiles
2.2.4 Amphibians
2.2.5 Freshwater Fishes
2.3 Invertebrates
3 Human Impacts
4 Conservation Action and Protected Areas
5 Further Reading
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Content Partner: Conservation International (other articles)
Article Topics: Biodiversity and Ecology
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Last Updated: August 22, 2008
Overview
Map of Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany. (Source: CI/CABS)
The Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot lies along the east coast of southern Africa, below the Great Escarpment, extending from extreme southern Mozambique (south of the Limpopo River, where it adjuts on the Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa Hotspot) and Mpumalanga province in South Africa (south of the Olifants River) in the north, through eastern Swaziland to the Eastern Cape province of South Africa in the south. The region is floristically, climatologically and geologically complex. There are at least three clear foci of high endemism and high diversity in the area, the names of which have been amalgamated as the name of this hotspot: Maputaland (Tongaland) in the north, Pondoland further south, and Albany in the southwest.
The topography of the region ranges from ancient sand dunes and low-lying plains in the north to a series of rugged terraces deeply incised by river valleys in the central and southern parts. The [[[Biodiversity hotspots (collection)Hotspot]] also incorporates several mountain ranges, including the Sneeuberg, Winterberg, Amatola Mountains, Ngeli Range, Lebombo Mountains and Ngoye Range. The area is bordered on the west by the Great Escarpment, which separates the elevated interior plateau of southern Africa from the coastal lowlands.
The hotspot's vegetation is comprised mainly of forests, thickets, bushveld and grasslands. About 80 percent of South Africa's remaining forests fall within this Hotspot. These warm temperate forests, which are home to nearly 600 tree species, have the highest tree diversity of any of the world's temperate forests. The area also has a remarkable succulent flora, principally in the Albany region; these are mainly stem succulents, as opposed to the dominant leaf succulents found in the Succulent Karoo in the western parts of southern Africa. One type of forest (Licuáti forest), three types of thicket, six types of bushveld, and five types of grassland are restricted to the Hotspot.
Unique and Threatened Biodiversity
Plants
The Tembe Elephant Reserve located in the eastern South Africa is among a number of protected areas in the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot. (Source: © Patricio Robles Gil/Sierra Madre)
Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany is an important center of plant endemism, and the second richest floristic region in Africa after the Cape Floristic Region. In total, about 8,100 species of plants from 243 families occur within this Hotspot, and nearly a quarter of these – at least 1,900 species – are found nowhere else. This includes 39 endemic genera (among 1,500 genera in total), and one endemic family: the Rhynchocalycaceae, which is represented by a single species, Rhynchocalyx lawsonioides (VU), found only in Pondoland in southern KwaZulu-Natal and the eastern Transkei area of the Eastern Cape.
Grass crinum (Crinum acaule) is found in northern KwaZulu-Natal, mainly on the Maputaland coastal plain. Much of its habitat has undergone major afforestation with the introduction of exotics and the expansion of settled areas. (Source: © Patricio Robles Gil/Sierra Madre)
Many of the hotspot’s plants have been developed successfully for horticulture around the world. One of the best known is the bitter aloe (Aloe ferox), which is used to make a purgative drug called Cape Aloes and is arguably the most important medicinal plant in South Africa. The bird-of-paradise flower (Strelitzia reginae) is endemic to the Hotspot and can grow up to two meters in its natural habitat in the Eastern Cape coastal bush. It is a popular horticultural subject in many parts of the world and has even been adopted as the civic emblem of Los Angeles. The once plentiful Sandersonia aurantiaca, a monotypic endemic genus whose beautiful orange-yellow flowers has led to the species common name of Christmas bells, is becoming increasingly rare.
At least half of the 40 species of red-hot poker (Kniphofia spp.) that occur within Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany are endemic to the Hotspot. One of the most notable is Kniphofia rooperi, a large and sturdy plant that has orange-yellow flowers, unlike the bright red flowers found on most other red-hot pokers.
Vertebrates
Birds
Birds are the most diverse group of vertebrates in the Hotspot, with more than 540 regularly occurring species. The hotspot is part of BirdLife International’s Southeast African Coast Endemic Bird Area, with four restricted-range species: Rudd’s apalis (Apalis ruddi), pink-throated twinspot (Hypargos margaritatus), Neergaard’s sunbird (Nectarinia neergaardi) and lemon-breasted seedeater (Serinus citrinipectus).
An important bird species found in the Hotspot is the southern race of brown-necked parrot (Poicephalus robustus robustus). These birds, which can be distinguished from the northern race by their brownish heads, are dependent on the yellowwoods (Podocarpus spp.) of the hotspot for nesting sites and food. Illegal harvesting of yellowwoods severely threatens the future of this subspecies.
Woodward’s barbet (Stactolaema olivacea woodwardi) is found in southern Africa only in the Ngoye Forest between Eshowe and Empangeni in KwaZulu-Natal. Although the species also occurs on the Rondo Plateau in Tanzania, the precise taxonomic status of these two disjunct populations is unclear.
Mammals
The Samango monkey (Cercopithecus mitis labiatus) is a distinctive subspecies in the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot. (Source: © Patricio Robles Gil/Sierra Madre)
Of the nearly 200 mammal species found in the Hotspot, only four are endemic, including the red bush squirrel (Paraxerus palliates, VU), the four-toed elephant shrew (Petrodromus tetradactylus), Marley’s golden mole (Amblysomus marleyi) and the giant golden mole (Chrysospalax trevelyani, EN).
One of the most notable mammal species in the Hotspot is the southern subspecies of the white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum). Once common and widely distributed throughout southern and East Africa, the species was greatly reduced due to hunting for its prized horn. Once near extinction, with only a few dozen individuals remaining in KwaZulu-Natal’s Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park, the subspecies was saved in one of the greatest success stories in conservation. Today, there are more than 12,000 individuals, many of which have been relocated to parks and reserves outside KwaZulu-Natal and beyond the borders of South Africa.
Two dainty antelopes are also important mammal species for Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany. The southern population of the blue duiker (Philantomba monticola) is confined to the hotspot and severely threatened by habitat destruction and fragmentation, poaching and snaring. The endemic southern race of the suni (Neotragus moschatus zuluensis), which relies on forests with high stem density and low ground cover, is quite restricted in its distribution because of destruction of its habitat.
Reptiles
More than 200 reptile species are found in the hotspot, and roughly 30 are endemic. The area is home to at least seven species of dwarf chameleon (Bradypodion spp.), all of which have very restricted distributions. The Hotspot also has one endemic genus, the Natal black snake (Macrelaps microlepidotus). Other interesting endemic reptiles include the Natal hinged tortoise (Kinixys natalensis), which is found throughout the Lebombo Mountain range, and the very rare endemic Albany adder (Bitis albanica), which is confined to the Algoa Bay area of the Eastern Cape. Tasman’s girdled lizard (Cordylus tasmani) is also endemic to the Algoa Bay area, where it lives under dead leaves on tall aloes or on dead aloe stems lying on rocky slopes.
Amphibians
All 72 of the hotspot’s amphibian species are frogs, eleven of which are endemic. This includes 8 threatened species that represent monotypic endemic genera: Boneberg’s frog (Natalobatrachus bonebergi, EN) and Rattray’s or hogsback frog (Anhydrophryne rattrayi, EN). Boneberg’s frog is restricted to forests along the coasts, where recent housing developments and sugarcane plantations have destroyed much of its habitat. Rattray’s frog is confined to thick vegetation along streams in the Amatola and Katberg Mountains in Eastern Cape Province, where commercial timber plantations threaten its survival. Other noticeable species include two endemics, the Natal banana frog (Afrixalus spinifrons, VU) and the Pickersgill’s reed frog (Hyperolius pickersgilli, EN), and the recently described soprano or whistling frog (Breviceps sopranos), which utters a long, high-pitched whistle.
Freshwater Fishes
Of the more than 70 freshwater fish species native to the Hotspot, about 20 are endemic, including four species of barb (Barbus spp.). The border barb (Barbus trevelyani, CR), which inhabits pools and riffles of clear rocky streams, is restricted to the Keiskamma and Buffalo river systems in the Eastern Cape. The endemic Eastern Cape rocky (Sandelia bainsii, EN) is one of only two species in its genus; the other species is endemic to streams in the Cape Floristic Region Hotspot.
Invertebrates
The Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot has an exceptionally rich and diverse invertebrate fauna. There are a number of butterfly and moth species found here, including the spectacular Charaxes pondoensis, which is confined to a small area of coastal forest near Port St. Johns. The hotspot is also home to many species of the phylum Onychophora (velvet worms), a fascinating group of ancient, caterpillar-like animals that are the most primitive group to walk with the body raised up on legs. Most species of the Onychophora genus Opisthopatus are found in this hotspot; one of two species in the genus, O. roseus (CR), is extremely rare and known only from Ngeli Forest near Kokstad.
The hotspot is a major center of diversity for the family Microchaetidae, a family of gigantic earthworms endemic to southern Africa that inhabit moist, undisturbed primary grasslands and forests. Microchaetus vernoni, which is found only in grassland in Vernon Crookes Nature Reserve in southern KwaZulu-Natal, can grow up to 2.6 meters in length and 1 centimeter in diameter.
Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany also has a very rich and varied scarab or dung beetle (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) fauna. The rare flightless dung beetle (Circellium bacchus) has a very restricted distribution and has captured the imagination of visitors to the Addo Elephant Park in the Eastern Cape, where road signs warn motorists not to drive over elephant and buffalo dung pads in the roads, for fear of crushing the beetles.
Human Impacts
Roughly 20 percent of the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot's original vegetation has been transformed by cultivation and urbanization, and more than half of what remains has been degraded through the loss of woodlands, soil erosion, overgrazing, and invasive species. (Source: © Patricio Robles Gil/Sierra Madre)
With one of the highest human densities in sub-Saharan Africa, the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany hotspot is under threat from a number of activities, principally cultivation, plantation forestry and urbanization, and only about one-quarter of the hotspot's original vegetation remains in pristine condition.
Cultivation in South Africa increased by 122 percent between 1987 and 1994. Both large-scale commercial agriculture and subsistence farming pose a threat to the forests, thickets and grasslands of the hotspot. Subsistence farming in communal areas consists mostly of shifting cultivation, which, while not expanding at the moment, affects hundreds of square kilometers. In these areas, land that has not been affected by cultivation is often under severe grazing pressure from domestic livestock; almost half of the region is communally owned and supports livestock in numbers far in excess of what is considered ecologically sustainable. Commercial sugarcane farming has completely transformed large tracts of land, especially in the coastal regions north and south of Durban.
Industrial timber production also poses a threat, particularly through the establishment of large-scale timber plantations, which have already destroyed several hundred thousand hectares of species-rich primary grasslands. In addition to transforming habitats, stands of alien tree species, including pine trees (Pinus spp.), eucalyptus (Eucalyptus spp.) and Australian wattles (Acacia spp.) alter the natural hydrological regime by using more groundwater than native species and affect the chemical and physical status of soils.
Urbanization around the hotspot's three major urban centers, Maputo in southern Mozambique and Durban and Port Elizabeth in South Africa, may also pose a threat, particularly through the development of unplanned sprawling slums that stretch out into the countryside around cities.
Other threats include invasive alien plant species and localized mining activities, specifically titanium extraction from coastal sands. In southern Mozambique, large-scale conversion of trees into charcoal to supply the growing demand for firewood in the larger Maputo area also poses a threat.
Conservation Action and Protected Areas
The southern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum simum) was near extinction at the beginning of the 20th century, but has rebounded due to conservation efforts. (Source: © Conservation International, photo by Russell Mittermeier)
About eight percent of Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany, or 23,051 km2, is under some form of protection, with most of these protected areas in IUCN categories I to IV. Although several of the hotspot's national parks, including the 24,000-hectare Greater Addo Park and the 6,536-hectare Mountain Zebra National Park, are managed by South African National Parks, a statutory body within the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, most protected areas in KwaZulu-Natal fall under the jurisdiction of Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife. The main conservation areas in southern Mozambique, which include the Licuáti Forest Reserve and the Maputo Elephant Reserve, are managed by the Direcção Nacional de Florestes e Fauna Bravia of the Ministério da Agricultura e Pescas. The 256,644-hectare Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
However, law enforcement and protection in conservation areas in Mozambique is poor, and the protected area system in the Hotspot is not representative of the biodiversity of the region. This is particularly true in Pondoland, where only a few small conservation areas exist. Grasslands, woody grasslands and coastal forests and thickets are underrepresented in the system. This is in large part due to the fact that most conservation areas have been established with the protection of big game in mind, rather than the preservation of floristically interesting and unique areas.
Current conservation initiatives include efforts to establish a transfrontier protected area linking nature reserves in Swaziland, southern Mozambique and northern KwaZulu-Natal, the establishment of the Baviaanskloof Megareserve and the expansion of the Greater Addo Park and the Mountain Zebra Reserve. The recently completed Subtropical Thicket Ecosystem Planning (STEP) project produced a conservation plan, involving dozens of stakeholders, for the region. The plan identified priority areas for the establishment of new protected areas and raised awareness of the importance of intact thicket ecosystems.
An important private initiative in the region is the conservancy program, which originated in KwaZulu-Natal in 1978, and involves the establishment of committees of landowners who pledge to protect the natural environment or certain natural features, such as a particular species. There are now about 218 conservancies in KwaZulu-Natal alone, covering about 1.5 million hectares.
Further Reading
Acocks, J.P.H. 1953. Veld types of South Africa. Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa 28: 1-192. (3rd edition with updated names and illustrations published in 1988 as Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa 57: 1-146). ISBN: 062102256X
Apps, P. (Ed.). 1996. Smithers' Mammals of Southern Africa: A Field Guide. Southern Book Publishers, Halfway House. ISBN: 1868126595
Barnes, K.N. (Ed.). 1998. The Important Bird Areas of Southern Africa. Johannesburg: BirdLife South Africa. ISBN: 1868126595
Batten, A. 1986. Flowers of Southern Africa. Sandton: Frandsen Publishers. ISBN: 0620089822
Branch, B. 1998. Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa. 3rd edition. Cape Town: Struik Publishers. ISBN: 0883590425
Bruton, M.N. & Cooper, K.H. 1980. Studies on the Ecology of Maputaland. Durban: Rhodes University, Grahamstown & Natal Branch of the Wildlife Society of South Africa. ISBN: 0868100358
Channing, A. 2001. Amphibians of Central and Southern Africa. Pretoria: Protea Bookhouse. ISBN: 0801438659
Coates Palgrave, K. 2002. Trees of Southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers. ISBN: 1868723895
Clancey, P.A. (Ed.) 1980. S.A.O.S. Checklist of Southern African Birds. Pretoria: Southern African Ornithological Society.
Dahlgren, R. & Van Wyk, A.E. 1988. Structures and relationships of families endemic to or centered in Southern Africa. Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Garden 25: 1-94.
Eliovson, S. 1980. Wild Flowers of Southern Africa. How to Grow and Identify Them. 6th edition. Hong Kong: Dai Nippon Printing Co. Ltd.
Esterhuysen, P. (Ed.). 1998a. Africa A-Z. Continental and Country Profiles. Africa Old Mill Road, Western Cape: Institute of South Africa.
Esterhuysen, P. 1998b. Africa at a Glance. Facts & Figures 1997/8. 10th edition. Old Mill Road, Western Cape: Africa Institute of South Africa
Ginn, P.J., McIlleron, W.G. & Milstein, P. le S. (Compilers). 1989. The Complete Book of Southern African Birds. Cape Town: Struik Publishers. ISBN: 0947430113
Goldblatt, P. & Manning, J. 2002. Plant diversity of the Cape Region of South Africa. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 89: 281-302.
Hamer, M.L., Samways, M.J. & Ruhberg, H. 1997. A review of the onycophora of South Africa, with a discussion of their conservation. Ann. Natal. Mus. 38: 283-312.
Harrison, J.A., Allan, D.G., Underhill, L.G., Herremans, M., Tree, A.J., Parker, V. & Brown, C.J. (Eds.). 1997. The Atlas of Southern African Birds (2 vols). Johannesburg: BirdLife South Africa.
Henning, G.A., Pringle, E.L.L. & Ball, J.B. (Eds.). 1994. Pennington's Butterflies of Southern Africa. 2nd edition. Cape Town: Struik-Winchester. ISBN: 0947430466
Izidine, S.A. 2003. Licuáti Forest Reserve, Mozambique: Flora, Utilization and Conservation. MSc Thesis, Department of Botany. University of Pretoria, Pretoria.
Le Roux, J. (Compiler). 2002. The Biodiversity of South Africa 2002. Indicators, Trends and Human Impacts. Cape Town: Struik Publishers.
Linder, P. 2003. The radiation of the cape flora, Southern Africa. Biological Reviews 78: 597-639.
Low, A.B. & Rebelo, A.G. 1998. Vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. 2nd edition. Pretoria: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.
Marais, J. 1999. Snakes and Snakebites in Southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers.
Matthews, W.S., Van Wyk, A.E., & Van Rooyen, N. 1999. Vegetation of the Sileza Nature Reserve and neighbouring areas, South Africa, and its importance in conserving the woody grasslands of the Maputaland centre of endemism. Bothalia 29: 151-167.
Minter, L.R. 2003. Two new cryptic species of Breviceps (Anura: Microhylidae) from Southern Africa. African Journal of Herpetology 52: 9-21.
Mittermeier, R.A., Myers, N., Gil, P.R. & Mittermeier, C.G. 1999. Hotspots. Earth's Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions. Conservation International, Sierra Madre. ISBN: 9686397582
Newman, K. 1998. Newman's Birds of Southern Africa. 7th edition. Southern Book Publishers, Halfway House. ISBN: 1868727351
Picker, M., Griffiths, C. & Weaving, A. 2002. Field Guide to Insects of South Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers. ISBN: 1868727130
Plisko, J.D. 1998. New and little-known species of Microchaetus Rapp, 1849, with a key to all species and notes on the significance of certain morphological features (Oligochaeta: Microchaetidae). Ann. Natal Mus. 39: 249-300.
Silander, J.A. Jr. 2001. Temperate rainforests. In Encyclopedia of Biodiversity. 5: 607-626. San Diego: Academc Press.
Sinclair, I. & Ryan, P. 2003. Birds of Africa South of the Sahara: a Comprehensive Illustrated Field Guide. Cape Town; Struik Publishers. ISBN: 1868728579
Skelton, P. 2001. A Complete Guide to the Freshwater Fishes of Southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers. ISBN: 1868726436
Smith, G.F., van Jaarsveld, E.J., Arnold, T.H., Steffens, F.E., Dixon, R.D. & Retief, J.A. (Eds.). 1997. List of Southern African Succulent Plants. Pretoria: Umdaus Press.
Van Riet, W., Claassen, P., Van Rensburg, J., Van Viegen, T. & Du Plessis, L. 1997. Environmental Potential Atlas for South Africa. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik Publishers. ISBN: 0627023150
Van Wyk, A.E. & Smith, G.F. 2001. Regions of Floristic Endemism in Southern Africa. A Review with Emphasis on Succulents. Pretoria: Umdaus Press. ISBN: 1919766189
Victor, J.E. & Dold, A.P. 2003. Threatened plants of the Albany Centre of Floristic Endemism, South Africa. South African Journal of Science 99: 437-446.
Vlok, J.H.J., Euston-Brown, D.I.W. & Cowling, R.M. 2003. Acocks' Valley Bushveld 50 years on: New perspectives on the delimitation, characterisation and origin of thicket vegetation. South African Journal of Botany 69: 27-51.
Werger, M.J.A. (Ed.). 1978. Biogeography and Ecology of Southern Africa (2 vols). The Hague: Junk.
Disclaimer: This article is taken wholly from, or contains information that was originally published by, the Conservation International. Topic editors and authors for the Encyclopedia of Earth may have edited its content or added new information. The use of information from the Conservation International should not be construed as support for or endorsement by that organization for any new information added by EoE personnel
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