Each glowing marker is a real biodiversity hotspot: a region
with exceptional concentrations of endemic species (found
nowhere else) that has already lost most of its original
habitat. A region only counts as a hotspot once its endemic
plant richness and habitat loss both cross scientific
thresholds — drag the threshold slider to see which regions
qualify.
is_hotspot = (endemic_species ≥ 1500 vascular plants)
AND (habitat_remaining ≤ 30%)
species_at_risk ∝ habitat_lost × endemism
- Habitat loss rate — ongoing deforestation/land-conversion pressure on each region.
- Protection funding — conservation investment that slows habitat loss and can let degraded habitat partially recover.
- Hotspot threshold — the endemism percentage a region must clear to count as critical; lowering it reveals more marginal regions.
This mirrors Norman Myers' original 1988 hotspot concept,
later refined by Conservation International into the 36
recognised global biodiversity hotspots — together covering
under 2.5% of Earth's land surface but holding over half of
all endemic plant species.