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Biodiversity
Importance of Biodiversity
Types, mega-biodiversity;
Species interaction
Extinct, endemic, endangered and rare species
 Hot-spots
GM crops
Terrestrial biodiversity
Aquatic biodiversity
Significance of biodiversity
Threats to biodiversity -Natural and anthropogenic activities
Conservation of biodiversity
Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth and the
essential interdependence of all living things among
themselves and with their environment

• Scientists have identified more than 2 million species. Tens

of millions -- remain unknown

•The tremendous variety of life on Earth is made possible by

complex interactions among all living things including
microscopic species like algae and mites.

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 Loss of Habitat: Is the largest cause
– Forests and grasslands have been cleared for
• agriculture
• pasturing
• human settlement and
• for development projects
– In India forests are lost at a rate of 0.6%/year

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 Factor influencing Habitat loss
• Habitat fragmentation:

– Small regions of forest are

removed for
• roads,
• urbanisation,
• agriculture

– It results in division of
forests into smaller
fragments

– Some animals need large

territories (eg: Bear, tiger)

– When forests are divided

these animals cannot
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survive
Deforestation
cutting trees for timber, removal of medicinal plants,
construction of dam

 Raw materials
production of hybrid seeds – wild plants used as raw
materials. As a result plant species become endangered

 Production of drugs
– wild plants – used for production of drugs
- therefore several medicinal plant become extinct.
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Wetlands are often destroyed due to
–draining,
–filling and
–Pollution

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 Poaching
• Killing/hunting of animals

• Illegal trade of wild life

– Despite ban, animals
are killed for Furs,
horns, tusks, skins
(crocodile)
– Live specimens are
smuggled

• Subsistence poaching: Killing animals for food

• Commercial poaching : Hunting & killing animals to sell their
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 Man-Wildlife conflicts
Man-wildlife conflicts arise
when wildlife starts causing immense damage and danger to
the man
Such condition, very difficult for the forest department to
compromise the affected villagers & gain village support for
wild life conservations.
 Examples 1.In Sambalpur, Orissa
– 200 humans killed by elephants.
- In retaliation the villagers killed 100 elephants
2. Man eating tiger - In Royal Chitwan National
park, Kathmandu
In 2004 - 20 Nepalese people were killed
1 four year old child
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 Remedy?
• Tiger conservation projects: Making available
tranquilizers guns, binoculars and radiosets
etc to deal with danger
• Solar powered fencing instead of electric
• Croping near forests should be prevented
• Adequate food should be made available for
animals within the forest
• Wild animal hunting rituals should be stopped
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 Endangered species
A species is
• Extinct: if not seen for 50 years
• Endangered : if its habitat is reduced to a level
that it will not survive unless protected
• Vulnerable: If it population is continuously
decreasing
• Rare species: Thinly scattered over a more
extensive area.
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 Endangered species of India

• About 215
species of
animals in India
are considered
threatened
• These include
reptiles, birds,
carnivores,
mammals,
primates and
plants

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 Now extinct Indian
Species

Himalayan quail

Indian Cheetah 37
 Endemic species of India
About 81,000 animal species are endemic
Eg:
• Lion-tailed Macaque,
• Asiatic Lion,
• Red Panda,
• Black buck
• and slender loris

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Endemic species of India
• There are 42 species of
Endemic birds in India

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 Endemic species of India
• Of 47,000 plant species
7000 are endemic to India

• Toothbrush orchid
• Nepenthes khasiana
• Platycerium alcicorne
Desv

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 History of crop improvement

• By trial and error for almost 9900 years

• By scientific principles of breeding for last 100 years

• By chemical induced mutation for last 75 years

• By rDNA technology last 25 years

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 CHALLENGES AHEAD

-Population in 2050 AD: 1.5 B

-Shrinking area of cultivated land
-Diminishing water resources
-Malnutrition and undernourishment
-Deterioration in soil quality
-Climate change (global warming)

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 Genetically Modified (GM) Crops

What is a GM crop?

GM crops are genetically improved and contain a

gene or genes from the same or a different species
artificially inserted in its genome.

Tissue Culture & Transformation – gives the

maximum flexibility for moving genes within or
between species.

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 Leaf Disk Method for A. t. Mediated Transformation

Leaf Disk Preparation Co-cultivation with Agrobacterium Selection for Transformation

Regeneration of Shoots
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 Bt- COTTON

Bt-cotton - First GM crop – 2002

Second in global cotton production
Area – 8.0 million hectares – 2008
Yield gain - 31%
Reduction in pesticide sprays – 39%
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NUTRITIONAL QUALITY
“Golden Rice”

*Expression of enzymes
of β-carotene
pathway in rice
endosperm
*Amelioration of
Vitamin A deficiency

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Bt Brinjal: Putting Science into Agriculture

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Bt-Brinjal

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 Species Interaction - Five Major Ways
Ecologists identify five basic types of interactions between species as they share
limited resources such as food, shelter, and space:

• Interspecific competition:
When members of two or more species interact to gain access to the same limited
resources such as food, water, light, and space.
• Predation:
When a member of one species (the predator) feeds directly on all or part of a
member of another species (the prey).
• Parasitism:
When one organism (the parasite) feeds on another organism (the host), usually by
living on or in the host.
• Mutualism:
Interaction that benefits both species by providing each with food, shelter, or some
other resource.
• Commensalism:
Interaction that benefits one species but has little or no effect on the other.

These interactions have significant effects on the resource use and population sizes of
the species in an ecosystem
 Interspecific competition
Resource partitioning:
Species competing for similar scarce resources evolve specialized traits that allow them to
share resources by using parts of them, using them at different times, or using them in
different ways.
 The predator–prey relationship

Herbivores can simply walk,

swim or fly up to the plants
they feed on.

Carnivores feeding on
mobile prey have two main
options: pursuit and ambush.

Cheetah catch prey by

running fast

The American bald eagle

can fly and have keen
eyesight.
Interactions between
Predator and Prey Species
Can Drive Each Other’s
Evolution

Prey species have developed

specialized ways to avoid their
predators:
(a, b) camouflage
(c–e) chemical warfare
(d, e) warning coloration
(f) mimicry
(g) deceptive looks
(h) deceptive behavior.
 Coevolution
Langohrfledermaus bat is hunting a moth. Long-term interactions between bats and their
prey such as moths and butterflies can lead to coevolution, as the bats evolve traits to
increase their chance of getting a meal and the moths evolve traits to help them avoid being
eaten.
 Parasitism
[Species Feed off Other Species by Living on or inside Them].
Parasitism occurs when one species (the parasite) feeds on another organism (the host), usually
by living on or inside the host. In this relationship, the parasite benefits and the host is often
harmed but not immediately killed.

Parasitism: This blood-sucking parasitic sea lamprey has attached itself to an adult lake
trout from the Great Lakes (USA).
 Mutualism
[ Both Species Benefit]
In mutualism, two species behave in ways that benefit both by providing each with food,
shelter, or some other resource.

Hummingbird benefits by feeding on nectar in this flower, and it benefits the flower by
pollinating it.
 Mutualism
(a) Oxpeckers and black rhinoceros
Oxpeckers (or tickbirds) feed on parasitic ticks that infest large, thick-skinned animals such as
the endangered black rhinoceros.
(b) Clownfish and sea anemone
A clownfish gains protection and food by living among deadly, stinging sea anemones and
helps to protect the anemones from some of their predators.
 Commensalism
[One Species Benefits and the Other Is Not Harmed]

Commensalism is an interaction that benefits one

species but has little, if any, beneficial or harmful
effect on the other.

Bromeliad—an epiphyte, or air plant—in Brazil’s

Atlantic tropical rain forest roots on the trunk of a
tree, rather than in soil, without penetrating or
harming the tree.

In this interaction, the epiphyte gains access to

sunlight, water, and nutrients from the tree’s debris;
the tree apparently remains unharmed and gains no
benefit.
 Terrestrial biodiversity
Forests,

Grassland,

Desert.
 Forest Ecosystem
Forest ecosystems provide ecological services far greater in value than the

value of raw materials obtained from forests.

Threats to forest Ecosystem:

Unsustainable cutting

Burning of forests

Diseases and insects

Projected climate change

Services of Forests Consequences of
Deforestation
Causes of Deforestation
How to sustain Terrestrial Ecosystem?
We can sustain forests by emphasizing the economic value of their ecological services,
removing government subsidies that hasten their destruction, protecting old-growth forests,
harvesting trees no faster than they are replenished, and planting trees.

We can sustain the productivity of grasslands by controlling the numbers and distribution of
grazing livestock, and by restoring degraded grasslands.

Sustaining biodiversity will require more effective protection of existing parks and nature
reserves, as well as the protection of much more of the earth’s remaining undisturbed
land area.

We can help to sustain terrestrial biodiversity by identifying and protecting severely
threatened areas (biodiversity hotspots), restoring damaged ecosystems (using restoration
ecology), and sharing with other species much of the land we dominate (using reconciliation
ecology).
Aquatic Biodiversity
The general nature of aquatic systems:
Saltwater and freshwater aquatic life zones cover almost three-fourths of the earth’s surface, with
oceans dominating the planet.
The key factors determining biodiversity in aquatic systems are temperature, dissolved oxygen
content, availability of food, and availability of light and nutrients necessary for photosynthesis.
Importance of marine aquatic systems:
Saltwater ecosystems are irreplaceable reservoirs of biodiversity and provide major ecological and
economic services.
Human activities affect marine ecosystems:
Human activities threaten aquatic biodiversity and disrupt ecological and economic services
provided by saltwater systems.
Importance of freshwater ecosystems:
Freshwater ecosystems provide major ecological and economic services, and are irreplaceable
reservoirs of biodiversity.
Human activities affect freshwater ecosystems:
Human activities threaten biodiversity and disrupt ecological and economic services provided by
freshwater lakes, rivers, and wetlands.
 Aquatic systems include
(a) Saltwater oceans
(b) Bays, such as Trunk Bay at St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands
(c) Freshwater lakes such as Peyto Lake in Canada’s Banff National Park
(d) Wild freshwater mountain streams

We can divide aquatic life forms into several major types:

Plankton, which include
(a) Phytoplankton, tiny drifting plants and
(b) Zooplankton, drifting animals that feed on each other and on phytoplankton; Eg:
Jellyfish, which uses long tentacles with stinging cells to stun or kill its prey.
Other major types of aquatic life are
(c) Nekton, or strongly swimming aquatic animals such as whale, and
(d) Benthos, or bottom dwellers such as sea star attached to coral in the Red Sea.
Human activities threaten

aquatic biodiversity and

disrupt ecological

and economic services

provided by saltwater systems.

Human Activities Are Disrupting and Degrading
Freshwater Systems
1. Dams and canals fragment about 40% of the world’s 237 largest rivers. They alter and
destroy terrestrial and aquatic wildlife habitats along these rivers and in their coastal deltas and
estuaries by reducing water flow and increasing damage from coastal storms.

2. Flood control levees and dikes built along rivers disconnect the rivers from their
floodplains, destroy aquatic habitats, and alter or reduce the functions of nearby wetlands.

3. Cities and farms, which add pollutants and excess plant nutrients to nearby streams, rivers,
and lakes.

4. Inland wetlands have been drained or filled to grow crops or have been covered with
concrete, asphalt, and buildings. The rest were lost to mining, logging, oil and gas extraction,
highway construction, and urban development.