- This article is about the ecological meaning of "endemic". See also endemic (epidemiology).
In biology and ecology, when something is endemic, it is unique to its own place or region; it is found only there, and not found naturally anywhere else. The place must be a discrete geographical unit, often an island or island group, but sometimes a country, habitat type, or other defined area or zone. For example, the orange-breasted sunbird (Anthobaphes violacea) is endemic to Fynbos, meaning it is exclusively found in the Fynbos vegetation type of southwestern South Africa. In epidemiology, an infection is said to be endemic in a population when that infection is maintained in the population without the need for external inputs. ...
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Habitat (which is Latin for it inhabits) is the place where a particular species live and grow. ...
Genera Many: see text The sunbirds and spiderhunters are very small passerine birds which feed largely on nectar, although they will also take insects, especially when feeding young. ...
Fynbos is the natural shrubland vegetation occurring in a small belt of the Western Cape of South Africa, mainly in winter rainfall coastal and mountainous areas with a Mediterranean climate. ...
An opposite notion is cosmopolitan distribution. A cosmopolitan distribution is a term applied to a biological category of living things meaning that this category can be found anywhere around the world. ...
Endemic types or species are especially likely to develop on islands due to their geographical isolation. This includes remote island groups, such as Hawaii, the Galápagos Islands and Socotra. Endemism can also occur in biologically isolated areas such as the highlands of Ethiopia, or large bodies of water like Lake Baikal. Located some 2,400 miles (4,000 km) from the nearest continental shore, the Hawaiian Islands are the most isolated group of islands on the globe. ...
This article is about the islands. ...
Map of the Socotra archipelago Socotra or Soqotra (Arabic سقطرى ; Suquá¹ra) is a small archipelago of four islands and islets in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia some 350 km south of the Arabian peninsula. ...
Lake Baikal (Russian: , pronounced ; Buryat and Mongol: Dalai-Nor) lies in Southern Siberia in Russia between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and Buryatia to the southeast near the city of Irkutsk. ...
Endemics can easily become endangered or extinct due to their restricted habitat and vulnerability to the actions of man, including the introduction of new organisms. There were millions of both petrels and "cedars" (actually junipers) in Bermuda when it was settled at the start of the 17th century. By the end of the century, the petrels were thought to be extinct, and cedars were driven nearly to extinction. This was caused by centuries of shipbuilding as well as the introduction of a parasite. Both petrels and cedars are very rare today, as are other species endemic or native to Bermuda. An endangered species is a species whose population is so small that it is in danger of becoming extinct. ...
// Prepleistocene extinctions A large number of historical orders are extinct, for example dinosaurs, pterosaurs and ammonites. ...
Sweet clover (), introduced and naturalized to the U.S. from Eurasia as a forage and cover crop. ...
(16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ...
Endemic organisms are not the same as indigenous organisms — a species that is indigenous to somewhere may be native to other locations as well. An introduced species, also known as a naturalized or exotic species, is an organism that is not indigenous to a given place or area. In the field of ecology, an indigenous species is an organism which is native to a region or ecosystem. ...
Sweet clover (), introduced and naturalized to the U.S. from Eurasia as a forage and cover crop. ...
Ecoregions with high endemism According to the World Wildlife Fund, the following ecoregions have the highest percentage of endemic plants: Note: After losing a court case in 2002 on the use of the initials WWF, the organization previously known as the World Wrestling Federation has rebranded itself as World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE. WWF - The Conservation Organization was formerly known as World Wildlife Fund and Worldwide Fund for Nature. ...
An ecoregion is a relatively large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities. ...
Fynbos is the natural shrubland vegetation occurring in a small belt of the Western Cape of South Africa, mainly in winter rainfall coastal and mountainous areas with a Mediterranean climate. ...
The Hawaiian Tropical Moist Forests ecoregion home to a high diversity of endemic species. ...
Aerial photo of a portion of the Anjajavy Forest, inset by a swath of mangrove riparian forest. ...
The Madagascar lowland forests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion, found on the eastern coast of the island of Madagascar. ...
The New Caledonia rain forests are a terrestrial ecoregion, located in New Caledonia in the South Pacific. ...
Threats to highly endemistic regions Some of the principal threats to these special ecosystems are: Both factors are secondary results of world overpopulation. Logging is the process in which trees are cut down usually as part of a timber harvest. ...
Assarting in Finland in 1892 Slash and burn (a specific practice that may be part of shifting cultivation or swidden-fallow agriculture) is an agricultural procedure widely used in forested areas. ...
Shifting cultivation is an agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily, then abandoned. ...
Map of countries by population density (See List of countries by population density. ...
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