https://en.people.cn/n3/2026/0401/c90000-20442132.html

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-026-03025-1

A team of researchers from the CAS Institute of Botany has proposed that a large area in central China be recognized as the 37th global biodiversity hotspot. The study was done in collaboration with scientists from Australia and Britain.

Global biodiversity hotspots are defined by two strict criteria: they must contain at least 1,500 species of vascular plants that are found nowhere else, and they must have lost at least 70 percent of their original natural vegetation. Currently, 36 regions around the world meet these conditions.

The researchers identified central China as a region of exceptional importance. Covering about 1.54 million square kilometers, this area is home to more than 14,000 species of vascular plants and also supports a wide variety of insects and vertebrates. Despite retaining only about 7 percent of its original vegetation, it hosts at least 2,024 endemic plant species — well above the threshold required for hotspot status.

Central China’s subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests are a unique mix of ancient relict plants, which were once widespread but can now survive in only a few places, and newer groups of species that have evolved rapidly in recent geological time. This combination makes the region irreplaceable in terms of evolutionary history.