ABSTRACT
"Biodiversity hotspots" is commonly used among conservationists, ecologists, and politicians. The concept was originally introduced by Myers. Biomes are broad habitat and vegetation types, spanning across biogeographic realms, being useful units for assessing global biodiversity and ecosystem services because they stratify the globe into ecologically meaningful and contrasting classes. Biodiversity focuses mainly on species, and questions on the number of species on the planet have triggered both scientist and policy makers for a very long time. The estimates have differed; however, they have steadily been adjusted upwards, particularly due to research documenting the huge species numbers recorded in rainforest areas. Loss of biodiversity has a tremendous economic impact as species, being on land or in water, are the basement for functional ecosystems and ecosystem services. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, or MA report, focuses on the associations between human well-being and ecosystems, and define ecosystem services as the benefits obtain from ecosystems.
