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6 - The plants of the Caribbean islands: a review of the biogeography, diversity and conservation of a storm-battered biodiversity hotspot

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 October 2011

Michael Maunder
Affiliation:
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Florida
Melissa Abdo
Affiliation:
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Florida
Rosalina Berazain
Affiliation:
Jardín Botánico Nacional, Cuba
Colin Clubbe
Affiliation:
Royal Botanic Gardens, UK
Francisco Jiménez
Affiliation:
Jardín Botánico Nacional, Dominican Republic
Ángela Leiva
Affiliation:
Jardín Botánico Nacional, Cuba
Eugenio Santiago-Valentín
Affiliation:
Universidad de Puerto Rico
Brett Jestrow
Affiliation:
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, USA
Javier Francisco-Ortega
Affiliation:
Florida International University
David Bramwell
Affiliation:
Jardín Botánico Canario 'Viera y Clavijo' - Unidad Asociada CSIC
Juli Caujapé-Castells
Affiliation:
Jardín Botánico Canario 'Viera y Clavijo' - Unidad Asociada CSIC
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Summary

The Caribbean islands, despite centuries of large-scale habitat loss, still contain habitats of amazing beauty and, importantly, these habitats provide an integral foundation for the islands’ sustainable development. These surviving habitats contain unique plant diversity found nowhere else on the planet and for some families, most notably the Asteraceae, globally unique lineages. Despite the Caribbean being one of the first contact zones between Western science and tropical biodiversity, much remains to be discovered and to be conserved.

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