Endemism

Endemism is the ecological state of a species being unique

to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation,
country or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that
are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are
also found elsewhere. The extreme opposite of endemism is
cosmopolitan distribution. An alternative term for a species
that is endemic is precinctive, which applies to species (and
subspecific categories) that are restricted to a defined
geographical area.

Contents
The orange-breasted sunbird(Nectarinia violacea) is
exclusively found in fynbos vegetation.
1 Etymology
2 Overview
3 Threats to highly endemistic regions
4 Notes
5 References
6 Further reading

Etymology
The word endemic is from New Latin endmicus, from
Greek , endmos, "native". Endmos is formed of
en meaning "in", and dmos meaning "the people".[1] The
term "precinctive" has been suggested by some
scientists,[a] and was first used in botany by MacCaughey Bicolored frog (Clinotarsus curtipes) is endemic to the
[2]
in 1917. It is the equivalent of "endemism". Precinction Western Ghats of India
was perhaps first used by Frank and McCoy.[3][4]
Precinctive seems to have been coined by David Sharp
when describing the Hawaiian fauna in 1900:[5] "I use the word precinctive in the sense of 'confined to the area
under discussion' ... 'precinctive forms' means those forms that are confined to the area specified." That
definition excludes artificial confinement of examples by humans in far-off botanical gardens or zoological
parks.

Overview
Physical, climatic, and biological factors can contribute to endemism. The orange-breasted sunbird is
exclusively found in the fynbos vegetation zone of southwestern South Africa. The glacier bear is found only in
limited places in Southeast Alaska. Political factors can play a part if a species is protected, or actively hunted,
in one jurisdiction but not another.

There are two subcategories of endemism: paleoendemism and neoendemism. Paleoendemism refers to species
that were formerly widespread but are now restricted to a smaller area. Neoendemism refers to species that
have recently arisen, such as through divergence and reproductive isolation or through hybridization and
polyploidy in plants.
Endemic types or species are especially likely to develop on geographically and biologically isolated areas such
as islands and remote island groups, such as Hawaii, the Galpagos Islands, and Socotra; they can equally
develop in biologically isolated areas such as the highlands of Ethiopia, or large bodies of water far from other
lakes, like Lake Baikal.

Endemics can easily become endangered or extinct if their restricted habitat changes, particularlybut not only
due to human actions, including the introduction of new organisms. There were millions of both Bermuda
petrels and "Bermuda cedars" (actually junipers) in Bermuda when it was settled at the start of the seventeenth
century. By the end of the century, the petrels were thought extinct. Cedars, already ravaged by centuries of
shipbuilding, were driven nearly to extinction in the twentieth century by the introduction of a parasite.
Bermuda petrels and cedars are now rare, as are other species endemic to Bermuda.

Threats to highly endemistic regions

Principal causes of habitat degradation and loss in highly endemistic ecosystems include agriculture, urban
growth, surface mining, mineral extraction, logging operations[6][7] and slash-and-burn agriculture.

Notes
a. Precinctivity

References
1. "Endemic" (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/endemic?s=t). Reference.com. Retrieved 6 december
2014.
2. MacCaughey, Vaughaun 1917. A survey of the Hawaiian land flora. Botanical Gazette 64: 89-114 [see p.
92]. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2469367
3. Frank, J.H. and McCoy, E.D. 1990. Endemics and epidemics of shibboleths and other things causing
chaos. Florida Entomologist 73: 1-9. http://journals.fcla.edu/flaent/article/view/58577/56256
4. Frank, J.H. and McCoy, E.D. 1995. Precinctive insect species in Florida. Florida Entomologist 78: 21-35.
[also uses word precinction]. http://journals.fcla.edu/flaent/article/view/74657/72315
5. Sharp, D. 1900. Coleoptera. I. Coleoptera Phytophaga, p. 91-116 in D. Sharp [ed.]. Fauna Hawaiiensis,
Being the Land-Fauna of the Hawaiian Islands. Cambridge Univ. Press; Cambridge, vol. 2 part 3 [see p.
91].
6. Fred Smiet (1982). Threats to the Spice Islands. (http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0376892902000
097%20) Oryx, 16, pp 323-328 doi:10.1017/S0030605300017774 (https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0030605
300017774)
7. "Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 5". Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 5 (1): 2532.
doi:10.1890/1540-9295(2007)5[25:ARFDAL]2.0.CO;2 (https://doi.org/10.1890%2F1540-9295%28200
7%295%5B25%3AARFDAL%5D2.0.CO%3B2).

Further reading
Juan J. Morrone (1994). "On the Identification of Areas of Endemism" (PDF). Systematic Biology. 43
(3): 438441. doi:10.1093/sysbio/43.3.438.
CDL Orme, RG Davies, M Burgess, F Eigenbrod; et al. (18 August 2005). "Global hotspots of species
richness are not congruent with endemism or threat". Nature. 436 (7053): 10169.
Bibcode:2005Natur.436.1016O. PMID 16107848. doi:10.1038/nature03850.
JT Kerr (October 1997). "Species Richness, Endemism, and the Choice of Areas for Conservation"
(PDF). Conservation Biology. 11 (55): 10941100. JSTOR 2387391. doi:10.1046/j.1523-
1739.1997.96089.x.

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