<P> A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with significant levels of biodiversity that is threatened with destruction . For example forests are considered as biodiversity hotspots . </P> <P> Norman Myers wrote about the concept in two articles in "The Environmentalist" (1988), & 1990 revised after thorough analysis by Myers and others in "Hotspots: Earth's Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions" and a paper published in the journal Nature . </P> <P> To qualify as a biodiversity hotspot on Myers 2000 edition of the hotspot - map, a region must meet two strict criteria: it must contain at least 0.5% or 1,500 species of vascular plants as endemics, and it has to have lost at least 70% of its primary vegetation . Around the world, 36 areas qualify under this definition . These sites support nearly 60% of the world's plant, bird, mammal, reptile, and amphibian species, with a very high share of those species as endemics . </P>

Who had coined the term hotspots in respect of biodiversity