Countries missing from the list include some of the world's most biodiverse nations, such as Indonesia and Madagascar. Even Brazil, with its Amazonian rainforests, is absent.
People in both ancient and modern times were immersed in fondling sand collecting the COINS, trying to discover the old mysteries hidden in these metals.
Because complex species interactions may be involved, identifying a keystone species by removing the species and observing changes in the ecosystem is problematic.
When I was researching this for a study a few years ago, I visited a couple of these typical limestone caves, and they were all very wet, you know, from streams and rivers.
Few will soon forget the footage of a 30ft wave, churning like an angry beast up the shore - cars, boats and even entire houses, some of them aflame, tossed in its muddy intensity.