To address the problem of preserving biodiversity, biologist Norman Myers and colleagues have identified various "hot spots" around the world. What exactly is a hot spot?

A) geographic areas that are warm year-round and never experience freezing temperatures
B) geographic regions where endangered species and humans connect with one another regularly on a regular basis
C) world areas with significantly higher extinction rates than the background extinction
D) global areas where the climate and geological events resulted in large numbers of species