Endemic Bird Areas
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An Endemic Bird Area (EBA) is an area of land identified by
BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
as being important for
habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
-based
bird conservation Bird conservation is a field in the science of conservation biology related to threatened birds. Humans have had a profound effect on many bird species. Over one hundred species have gone extinct in historical times, although the most dramatic hu ...
because it contains the habitats of restricted-range bird species (''see below for definition''), which are thereby
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to them. An EBA is formed where the distributions of two or more such restricted-range species overlap. Using this guideline, 218 EBAs were identified when Birdlife International established their Biodiversity project in 1987.A-Z of Areas of Biodiversity Importance: Endemic Bird Areas (EBA)
accessed 10 May 2011
A secondary EBA comprises the range of only one restricted-range species, or an area which is only the partial breeding range of a range-restricted species. EBAs contain about 93% of the world's restricted-range bird species, as well as supporting support many more widespread species. Half the restricted-range species are threatened or near-threatened, with the other half especially vulnerable to the loss or degradation of their habitats because of the small size of their ranges. Most EBAs are also important for the conservation of other animals and of plants. Although they cover less than 5% of the world's land surface, their biological richness makes them high priorities for ecosystem conservation. The natural habitat of most EBAs is
forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
, especially tropical lowland forest and highland
cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud c ...
, often comprising islands or mountain ranges, and varying in size from a few square kilometres to over 100,000 km2. Some 77% of EBAs lie in the
tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
and
subtropics The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 35° north and ...
. ;Restricted-range bird species A restricted-range bird species is a term coined by BirdLife International in conjunction with the identification of Endemic Bird Areas. It is defined as a landbird (i.e. not a
seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...
)
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
which is estimated to have had a breeding range of not more than 50,000 km2 since 1800. It includes birds which have become
extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
which qualify on the range criterion. It does not include birds which, although they meet the range criterion today, were historically (since 1800) more widespread.


See also

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Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
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Lists of endemic birds This is a master list pertaining to lists of endemic birds. As applied to birds, the term "endemic" refers to any species found only within a defined geographical area. There is no upper limit for the area; it would not be incorrect to refer to al ...
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List of endemic bird areas of the world The following is a list of endemic bird areas of the world, as defined by Birdlife International - see main article (Endemic Bird Area). North and Central America South America Africa, Europe and the Middle East Continental Asia South-eas ...
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List of secondary endemic bird areas of the world The following is a list of areas classified by Birdlife International as Secondary Areas, namely areas which contain at least one restricted-range endemic bird species, but do not qualify for the full Endemic Bird Area status. Secondary areas in ...


References


Sources

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Further reading

* '' Putting biodiversity on the map: priority areas for global conservation'' C. J. Bibby, N. J. Collar, M. J. Crosby, M.F. Heath, Ch. Imboden, T. H. Johnson, A. J. Long, A. J. Stattersfield and S. J. Thirgood (1992) Endemism in birds Bird conservation BirdLife International {{bird-stub