FEATURE ARTICLE
Conserving Biodiversity Coldspots
Recent calls to direct conservation funding to the world's biodiversity hotspots may be bad investment advice
Peter Kareiva, Michelle Marvier
Having limited resources, many conservationists have been concentrating their efforts on biodiversity "hotspots," which are defined as small areas that harbor a large number of plant species that can be found nowhere else. Indeed that approach has gained such popularity in recent years that it risks eclipsing other equally valid methods for setting conservation priorities. The authors argue that conservationists should not concentrate on the preservation of hotspots at the expense of addressing other important concerns, including the need to maintain various "services" that natural areas provide.
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