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Five hotbeds of biodiversity

Here are five flora- and fauna-rich ecologies that Conservation International, a nonprofit organization in Arlington, Va., says are more than 70 percent intact.

3. New Guinea

Christopher Austin/ Louisiana State University/REUTERS
Paedophryne amauensis, the world's smallest frog, is pictured in this undated handout photo received by Reuters January 12. Discovered by scientists during recent field work in eastern Papua New Guinea in 2009, the adult P. amauensis is an average of 7.7 millimeters long. The tiny amphibians live amongst the leaf litter on the rainforest floor. The new species was announced January 11 in the online journal PLOS One.

  • By Leigh Montgomery
  • Emily Powers Monitor Library

Islands often have exceptionally rich biodiversity as does New Guinea - it is the world’s highest and second largest behind Greenland, located in the Southwest Pacific. 1000 species were discovered since 1998 - from birds, butterflies, coral, dolphins, fish, orchids, reptiles, and sharks.

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