Endemic (ecology)
From Freepedia
- This article is about the ecological meaning of "endemic". See also endemic (epidemiology).
In biology and ecology endemic means exclusively native to a place or biota, in contrast to cosmopolitan or one of various ways of being not native (e.g., adventive, exotic, alien, introduced, naturalized). However, it is also differentiated from indigenous. A species that is endemic is unique to that place or region, found naturally nowhere else, whereas a species that is indigenous may be native to other locations as well. Usually the term is applied to a discrete geographical unit, most often an island or island group, but sometimes a country or other defined area.
Islands are especially likely to develop endemic forms because of their geographical isolation; remote island groups, such as Hawai'i and the Galápagos Islands, have large numbers of endemic species. The restricted area and vulnerability to the depredations of man and introduced species mean that endemics all too easily can become extinct.
Endemism can also develop in other biologically isolated areas, such as the highlands of Ethiopia or large bodies of water like Lake Baikal.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, the following ecoregions have the highest percentage of endemic plants:
- Madagascar lowland forests (Madagascar)
- New Caledonia rain forests (New Caledonia)
- Hawaii tropical moist forests (United States)
- Madagascar dry deciduous forests (Madagascar)
- New Caledonia dry forests (New Caledonia)
- Hawaii tropical dry forests (United States)
- Sierra Madre de Oaxaca and Sierra Madre del Sur pine-oak forests (Mexico, Guatemala)
- Fynbos (South Africa)
- Kwongan heathlands (Australia)
