Q.Where are biodiversity hotspots normally located? Why?

Step 1. Norman Myers's chapter-quoted definition specifies hotspots as 'regions that harbour a great diversity of endemic species and at the same time, have been significantly impacted and altered by human activities' — location is therefore determined by this dual criterion, not by any single climate zone.

Step 2. The formal threshold reinforces this: a hotspot must support at least 1,500 endemic vascular plant species (0.5% of the global total) AND must have already lost more than 70% of its original vegetation — so a region qualifies only where extraordinary endemism and extraordinary habitat degradation coincide.

Step 3. India's four hotspots fit this pattern: the Himalaya and Western Ghats are mountainous regions whose isolation historically produced very high endemism, while Indo-Burma and Sundaland are biogeographically complex transition/island regions with similarly high endemic concentrations — all four have also experienced substantial habitat modification from human activity, which is precisely why they were flagged as hotspots rather than simply as biodiverse regions. …

Explain hotspot location using Norman Myers's dual definition (high endemism plus significant human impact) a …

• Describing hotspots as simply 'the most biodiverse regions' without the second, equally essential criterion of heavy habitat loss. …