Biodiversity and Conservation

Biodiversity: “ collection of variety of all forms of life”.

• Biodiversity occurs not only in the species level, but also in the macromolecular
levels.
• Biodiversity as described by Edward Wilson is “the combined diversity at all levels
of biological organization”.

The important diversity at the levels of biological organization are-

I. Genetic Diversity- a single species might show high diversity at the genetic level over
its distributional range.

Ex: Medicinal plant Rauwolfia vomitoria shows genetic variation in terms of

concentration and potency of chemical reserpine.
Ex: India has more than 50,000 genetically different strains of rice and 1000 varieties of
mango.

II. Species Diversity- Diversity at species level for example.

• 1. Species richness: It refers to the number of species per unit area.
• 2. Species Evenness: It refers to the relative abundance with which each species is represented
in an area.
Ex: the Western Ghats have more amphibian species diversity than the Eastern Ghats.

I. Ecological Diversity- Diversity at the ecosystem level.

Ex: India, for instance, with its deserts, rain forests, mangroves, coral reefs, wetlands,
estuaries, and alpine meadows has a greater ecosystem diversity than a Scandinavian
country like Norway.

[Ecological diversity is further divided into alpha diversity( diversity within the
community), beta diversity( diversity between community) and gamma diversity(
diversity in large geographical area).]

HOW MANY SPECIES ARE THERE ON EARTH AND HOW MANY IN INDIA?

Biodiversity and its conservation are vital environmental issues of international concern
as more and more people around the world begin to realize the critical importance of
biodiversity for survival and well-being on this planet.

• According to the IUCN(2002),there are close to 1.5 million plants and animals that
have to be discovered and described. More species have to be discovered in
temperate regions as compared to tropics.

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 • According to an estimate made by Robert May, global species biodiversity is
about 7 million.
• Of the total species discovered so far, 70% are animals and 22% are plants. Of the
animals, 70% are insects.
• Among animals, insects are the most species-rich taxonomic group, making up
more than 70 per cent of the total. That means, out of every 10 animals on this
planet, 7 are insects.
The number of fungi species in the world is more than the combined total of the
species of fishes, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.

• These estimates do not give any figure for prokaryotes for the following
reasons:

1. The conventional taxonomic methods are not sufficient for identifying these
microbial species

2. Many of these species cannot be cultured under laboratory conditions.

3. Biochemical and molecular biology techniques would put their diversity into
millions.

BIODIVERSITY IN INDIA

• India is one of the twelve mega biodiversity countries of the world.

• India has only 2.4% of the land area of the world, it has 8.1% of the global species
biodiversity.
• There are about 45,000 species of plants and about 90,000-1,00,000 species of
animals.
• New species are yet to be discovered and named.
• Applying Robert May’s global estimate, only 22% of the total species have been
recorded, India has probably more than 1,00,000 species of plants and 3,00,000
species of animals to be discovered and described.

PATTERNS OF BIODIVERSITY
• Latitudinal gradients − The plants and animals are not distributed evenly
worldwide. The diversity of living forms decreases as we go from the equator
towards the poles.
Ex: Amazonian Rainforest has the greatest biodiversity on earth. It has more than
40000 species of plants, 1,25,000 species of insects, 300 species of fish, 427 of
amphibian and 378 of reptiles, 1300 species of birds and 427 of mammals.

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 Ex: Colombia located near the equator has nearly 1,400 species of birds while New
York at 41° N has 105 species and Greenland at 71° N only 56 species. India, with
much of its land area in the tropical latitudes, has more than 1,200 species of birds.
Ex: A forest in a tropical region like Equador(south america) has up to 10 times as
many species of vascular plants as a forest of equal area in a temperate region like
the Midwest of the USA.

A huge amount of plants and animals are concentrated in the tropical region because of
the following reasons.
1. Tropical environment is less seasonal and almost constant and predictable as
compared to temperate environment.
2. Tropics receive the major part of the solar energy, which contributes to great
productivity.
3. Speciation is dependent upon time. Tropical areas have remained undisturbed
for millions of years unlike temperate regions, which have experienced
frequent glaciations in the past.

• Species-Area relationships
Alexander Von Humboldt has observed that within a region, species richness
gets increased when explored area is increased, but only up to a limit. It
appears as a rectangular hyperbola for a wide variety of organisms like
vascular plants, birds, bats, and fresh water fishes. S = CAz

log S = log C + Z log A

Where,
S = Species richness

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 A = Area
Z = Slope of the line (regression co-efficient)
C = Y-intercept
Value of Z is found to lie in the range of 0.1 to 0.2 for comparatively smaller areas
such as countries while for very large areas such as entire continents, the slope of
the line is much steeper with Z value lying from 0.6 to 1.2.
For example, for frugivorous (fruit-eating) birds and mammals in the tropical
forests of different continents, the slope is found to be 1.15.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SPECIES DIVERSITY TO THE ECOSYSTEM

• The communities with more species are generally more stable than those with
less species.
• A stable community should not be show too much variation in productivity from
year to year.
• Rich biodiversity is essential for ecosystem health and imperative for the very
survival of human race on this planet.

Rivet popper hypothesis – given by Paul Ehrlich. In an airplane (ecosystem) all parts are
joined together using thousands of rivets (species). If every passenger travelling in it
starts popping a rivet to take home (causing a species to become extinct), it may not
affect flight safety (proper functioning of the ecosystem) initially, but as more and more
rivets are removed, the plane becomes dangerously weak over a period of time.
Furthermore, which rivet is removed may also be critical. Loss of rivets on the wings
(key species that drive major ecosystem functions) is obviously a more serious threat to
flight safety than loss of a few rivets on the seats or windows inside the plane

LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY

The biological wealth of our planets have been declining rapidly due to three factors –
Population, Urbanisation and Industrialisation.

The IUCN Red List (2004) documents the extinction of 784 species (including 338
vertebrates, 359 invertebrates and 87 plants) in the last 500 years.

Some examples of recent extinctions include the Dodo (Mauritius), Quagga (Africa),
Thylacine (Australia), Steller’s Sea Cow (Russia) and three subspecies (Bali, Javan,
Caspian) of tiger. In last 20 years, 27 species have been disappeared.

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More than 15,500 species world-wide are facing the threat of extinction.Presently 12 %
of all bird species, 23 % of all mammal species, 32 % of all amphibian species, 31% of
all gymnosperm species in the world face the threat of extinction.

In general, loss of biodiversity in a region may lead to

a. Decline in plant production

b. Lowered resistance to environmental perturbations, drought, and flood.

c. Increased variability in ecosystem processes such as productivity, water use, and

pest and disease cycles.

CAUSES OF BIODIVERSITY LOSSES

Faster rates of species extinctions are largely due to human activities. The four major
causes are called ‘The Evil Quartet’.

1. Habitat loss and fragmentation– is the most important cause of animals and
plants extinction. The Amazon rain forest (lungs of the planet) having millions of
species is being cut and cleared for cultivating soya beans or for conversion to
grasslands. When large habitats are broken up into small fragments due to
various human activities, mammals and birds requiring large territories and
animals with migratory habits are badly affected.

2. Over-exploitation– When biological system is over exploited by man for the

natural resources ,it results in degradation and extinction of the resources , e.g
Steller’s sea cow, passenger pigeon etc. Many marine fish population are over
harvested, endangering the continued existence of some commercial important
species.

3. Alien species invasions– when alien species enters intentionally or

unintentionally, some of them turn invasive and cause decline or extinction of
indigenous species.
Ex: The Nile perch introduced into Lake Victoria in east Africa led eventually to the
extinction of an ecologically unique assemblage of more than 200 species of
cichlid fish in the lake.
Ex:Invasive weeds species like carrot grass (parthenium), Lantana and water
hyacinth causing threats to indigenous species.

4. Co-extinctions– when a species becomes extinct, the plant and animal species
associated with it also become extinct. When a host fish species becomes extinct,
its unique assemblage of parasites also becomes extinct.

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 Ex: In case of plant-pollinator mutualism, the extinction of one partner will
eventually lead to the extinction of other also.

BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
We should conserve the biodiversity due to following groups of reasons-

Narrowly utilitarian– human obtain countless direct economic benefits from nature like
• Food(cereals,pulses, fruits, vegetables, spices)
• Firewood and timber
• Fibres(cotton,jute)
• Construction material.
• Medicinal plants and drugs. More than 25% of drugs sold in market world wide
are derived from plants . 25,000 species of plants contribute to traditional
medicines.
• Industrial products.(tannin. Dyes, perfumes)
• ‘Bio-prospecting’ (exploring molecular, genetic,species level diversity products of
economic importance) nations endowed with rich biodiversity can expect to reap
enormous benefits.

Broadly Utilitarian– biodiversity plays a major role in ecosystem services that nature
provides.

• Productions of Oxygen during photosynthesis in forest.

• Forest acts as carbon sink to reduce pollution.
• Pollination without natural pollinator
• Cultural and aesthetic pleasure from nature are priceless

Ethical Utilitarian

• For conserving biodiversity relates to what we own to millions of plants, animals

and microbes species with whom we share this planet.
• Every species has an intrinsic value although it may not be of current or any
economic value to us.
• It is our moral duty to care for their well-being and pass on our biological legacy in
good order to future generations.

HOW DO WE CONSERVE BIODIVERSITY?

When whole ecosystem is conserved, all its biodiversity is also protected. There are two
ways of conservation of biodiversity-

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In situ (on site) conservation

Biodiversity hotspots - Regions with very high levels of species richness and high
degree of endemism (species found in that region and not found anywhere else).

• Worldwide there are 34 hot spots.

• India has three hot spots – Western Ghats- Srilanka, Indo Burma and Himalaya.

Biosphere reserves – special protected area of land where in people are integral part of
the system. There are 14 Biosphere reserves in India. Biosphere reserves is consist of

• Core zone : Central and undisturbed part . Natural zone.

• Buffer zone: around the core zone . Limited activity of humans is permitted.
• Transitional zone: outmost zone. People/ tribal’s are allowed for settlement,
cropping, grazing and soon.

Ex: Nilgiri (Karnataka), Sunderbans (W B), Manas ( Assam).

Wildlife sanctuaries: large area where animals are protected from exploitation, habitat
disturbance. Forest products harvesting of timber and wood cultivation without
affecting wildlife. There are 448 sanctuaries.Ex: Ranganathittu Bird sanctuary, Mysore

National parks: area reserved for wild life and includes plantation, grazing There are
90 national parks in India. Ex: Bannerghatta national park, Bangalore

Sacred grooves/ Sacred forest: patches of forest and place of workship and are
protected. Ex: Khasi and Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya, Aravalli Hills of Rajasthan,
Western Ghat regions of Karnataka and Maharashtra and the Sarguja, Chanda and
Bastar areas of Madhya Pradesh. Sacred grooves are last refuges for large number of
rare and threatened plants

Ex situ (off site) conservation

In this method, threatened animals and plants are taken out from their natural
habitat and placed in special setting when they be protected and given special
care .

➢ Zoological parks: small unnatural habitats. Ex: Sri chamarajendra Zoological

park, Mysore.
➢ Botanical Gardens: collection of trees and shrubs.
➢ Wildlife safari parks: large areas where animals are kept in semi captivity /
semi natural conditions.

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 ➢ Cryopreservation: gametes of threatened species can be preserved in viable
and fertile condition for long periods of time using cryopreservation
technique.
➢ IVF , Tissue culture: Eggs can be fertilized in vitro and plants can be
propagated using tissue culture methods.

Biodiversity knows no political boundaries and its conservation is therefore a collective

responsibility of all nations.
• The historic Convention on Biological Diversity (‘The Earth Summit’) held in Rio de
Janeiro in 1992, called upon all nations to take appropriate measures for
conservation of biodiversity and sustainable utilisation of its benefits.
• In a follow-up, the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in 2002 in
Johannesburg, South Africa, 190 countries pledged their commitment to achieve
by 2010, a significant reduction in the current rate of biodiversity loss at global,
regional and local levels.

Note

➢ IUCN – International union of conservation of nature and natural resource.

➢ Red data book(RDB) – compilation of data on species threatened with extinction,

maintained by IUCN.

➢ Cryopreservation – refers to placing the cells/tissue/seeds in liquid nitrogen of -

196O C for indefinite period of time without losing their viability.

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FLOW CHARTS

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 Biosphere
reserves

protected area National Parks

In situ
conservation
biodiversity hot
Sacred grooves
spots

Botanical gardens
Methods to
conserve
biodiversity
protection of
threatened Zoological parks
species

Wild life safari

Ex situ park
conservation

Cryopreservation
gamete
protection
IVF, Tissue culture

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