Limestone Karsts of Southeast Asia: Imperiled Arks of Biodiversity

2006/01/01 by REUBEN CLEMENTS, Navjot S. Sodhi, Menno Schilthuizen +1 · 634 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Agroforestry #Archaeology #Biodiversity #Biology #Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies #Ecology #Endemism #Environmental health #Environmental planning #Geography #Karst #Natural resource economics #Overexploitation #Population #Subterranean biodiversity and taxonomy #Turtle Biology and Conservation

paper · pdf · doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2006)56[733:lkosai]2.0.co;2

published in BioScience 56(9), 733 (Oxford University Press)

openalex publication_date 2006/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Abstract The overexploitation of the world's biomes for natural products calls for the prioritization of biologically important ecosystems for conservation. Here we show that limestone karsts are “arks” of biodiversity and often contain high levels of endemism. Humans have exploited karsts for a variety of products and services, but unsustainable practices have caused population declines and extinctions among site-endemic taxa. Limestone quarrying is the primary threat to karst biodiversity in Southeast Asia, where quarrying rates exceed those in other tropical regions. Several socioeconomic, political, and scientific issues undermine the stewardship of these karsts. Mitigation of these problems will involve (a) better land-use planning to prevent karst resources from being exhausted in developing regions, (b) comprehensive assessments of a karst's economic and biological value before development, (c) improved legislation and enforcement to protect karst biodiversity, and (d) increased research and activities to promote public awareness of the importance of karsts and the threats facing them.

Citations

• Archaeology and age of a new hominin from Flores in eastern Indonesia
• Morphological and molecular investigations of a new family, genus and species of rodent (Mammalia: Rodentia: Hystricognatha) from Lao PDR
• Biological Aspects of Endemism in Higher Plants
• Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities
• Fish and Fisheries of the Inle Lake

Cited by

• Cryptic diversity of limestone karst inhabiting land snails (Cyclophorus spp.) in northern Vietnam, their evolutionary history and the description of four new species
• A review of the land snail genus Alycaeus (Gastropoda, Alycaeidae) in Peninsular Malaysia
• A molecular and conchological dissection of the “scaly” Georissa of Malaysian Borneo (Gastropoda, Neritimorpha, Hydrocenidae)
• Apuntes laboralistas sobre lo colectivo y lo individual en la Ley Concursal
• Integrative taxonomic revision of the land snail genus Sarika Godwin-Austen, 1907 in Thailand, with descriptions of nine new species (Eupulmonata, Ariophantidae)
• A New Bent-Toed Gecko (Genus Cyrtodactylus) from Southern Palawan Island, Philippines and Clarification of the Taxonomic Status of C. annulatus
• A new species of karst forest Bent-toed Gecko (genus Cyrtodactylus Gray) not yet threatened by foreign cement companies and a summary of Peninsular Malaysia’s endemic karst forest herpetofauna and the need for its conservation
• Twelve new species of Cyrtodactylus Gray (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from isolated limestone habitats in east-central and southern Myanmar demonstrate high localized diversity and unprecedented microendemism
• Evolution and Extinction of Land Snails on Oceanic Islands
• Molecular and morphological data uncover a striking new genus of dragon millipedes in Thailand, with alternately long and short legs (Diplopoda, Polydesmida, Paradoxosomatidae)
• Long-term floristic and climatic stability of northern Indochina: Evidence from the Oligocene Ha Long flora, Vietnam
• Conservation Ecology of Cave Bats
• Plectostoma obliquedentatum [wikipedia]