The terrestrial biodiversity hotspots identified by Conservation International and partners delineate large regions characterized both by exceptional levels of plant endemism and by serious levels of habitat loss. To qualify as a hotspot, a region must meet two strict criteria: it must contain at least 1,500 species of vascular plants (> 0.5 percent of the world's total) as endemics, and it has to have lost at least 70 percent of its original habitat.

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