endemic species

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

species that are native to and found exclusively within a particular geographic area and found nowhere else on Earth, making them especially vulnerable to local threats such as habitat destruction, invasive species, and climate change; endemism is most pronounced on islands — where geographic isolation drives unique evolutionary trajectories — and in ancient lake systems, mountain ranges, and biodiversity hotspots with long histories of ecological isolation; Madagascar, the Galapagos Islands, Hawaii, and the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa have exceptionally high rates of endemism; endemic species are conservation priorities because their global extinction risk is entirely dependent on the fate of the single location they inhabit