Endemic Bird Area

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The bird protection organization BirdLife International designates habitats of bird species that are worthy of protection as Endemic Bird Area (EBA, German : area of endemic birds) , which only occur in a limited area of ​​a maximum of 50,000 km², i.e. have only a limited distribution.

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There are at least two endemic bird species in such EBAs. In the BirdLife International biodiversity project in 1987, 218 EBAs were established worldwide. In addition, regions with only one species of bird with limited distribution were defined as secondary endemic bird areas .

In the EBAs, 93% of the bird species worldwide live with limited distribution. Half of all these bird species are endangered or low endangered, while the other half is also threatened by possible loss or reduction due to the small size of their habitats. In addition to bird species, the EBAs are also important for the protection of other animal and plant species. Although they only cover 5% of the world's surface, they are home to a great deal of biological wealth, which makes them important for the conservation of the ecosystem.

Most of the EBAs are forests, particularly tropical lowland forests and cloud forests in the highlands , often on islands and mountain ranges. About 77% are in the tropics and subtropics . The sizes vary between a few square kilometers and over 100,000 km².

See also

Web links

literature

  • CJ Bibby, NJ Collar, MJ Crosby, MF Heath, Ch. Imboden, TH Johnson, AJ Long, AJ Stattersfield and SJ Thirgood: Putting biodiversity on the map: priority areas for global conservation , (1992) ISBN 0-946888-24- 8th
  • Alison J. Stattersfield, Michael J. Crosby, Adrian J. Long, and David C. Wege: Endemic Bird Areas of the World: Priorities for Biodiversity Conservation , (1998) ISBN 0-946888-33-7

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Endemic Bird Areas . BirdLife International. Retrieved January 31, 2012.
  2. ↑ AZ of Areas of Biodiversity Importance: Endemic Bird Areas (EBA) , accessed on May 10, 2011