Biodiversity hotspots, evolution and coral reef biogeography: a review
Book Chapter ResearchOnline@JCUAbstract
[Extract] It is widely acknowledged that the Southeast Asian region is an area of outstanding biological and geological interest. It is an area of exceptional biodiversity, which contains both marine and terrestrial biodiversity hotspots (Myers et al. 2000, Roberts et al. 2002). The convoluted and still highly active tectonic history of the region has resulted in a complex archipelago characterised by highly localised terrestrial faunas with large numbers of endemic species (Hall 2002, Sodhi et al. 2004). Terrestrial hotspots are defined as areas of exceptional endemism (usually combined with some measure of environmental damage) (Myers et al. 2000). This focus on endemism has resulted in the identification of three small regional terrestrial hotspots within the Indo-Australian Archipelago (IAA). The marine system stands in marked contrast to the terrestrial pattern, with the IAA sitting in the middle of a single massive global marine hotspot. This feature dominates patterns of tropical marine biodiversity and spans over two thirds of the world's tropical equatorial oceans. This pattern is observed in most tropical shallow marine taxa (see review of Hoeksema 2007). Although the exact location of the most diverse area differs between taxa, in all cases, the IAA contains the hottest part of the world's largest biodiversity hotspot (Fig 9.1).
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Biotic Evolution and Environmental Change in Southeast Asia
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82
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978-1-107-00130-5
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30
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Cambridge University Press
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New York, USA
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