California is a biodiversity hotspot | Tuleyome Tales
(WorldNews Environment)

By Glen Holstein Special to The Democrat Biodiversity hotspots are regions where species numbers are unusually high. Most but not all are in the tropics. One that isn`t is the Californian region. In a 2000 Nature Conservancy inventory of state biodiversity, California stood out dramatically. Its 5,653 species of animals and plants (non-vascular plants and most invertebrate animals were not included because of insufficient state information) was the most of any state. Its 1,480 endemics, species that only occur in one state and nowhere else, were also more than in any other state. California was number one by far in vascular plant species (4,389) as well as in endemic plants (1,416)....