Environment Communication

Unit-2: Lesson 3
Biodiversity: Definition and Concept
Dr. Rajesh Agrawal
Associate Professor, BA(JMC)
 Biodiversity: Definitions and Concept
• Biodiversity is a term used to describe the
enormous variety of life on Earth.
• It can be used more specifically to refer to
all of the species in one region or
ecosystem.
• Biodiversity refers to every living thing,
including plants, bacteria, animals, and
humans.
 Biodiversity: Definitions and Concept
• Areas with extremely high levels of
biodiversity are called hotspots.
• A biodiversity hotspot is a region with a
high level of endemic species that
have experienced great habitat loss.
(Endemic species - species that are only
found in one particular location.
• The term hotspot was introduced in
1988 by Norman Myers.
 Biodiversity: Definitions and Concept
Biodiversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth.
Biodiversity is typically a measure of variation at the
genetic, species, and ecosystem level.
Terrestrial biodiversity is usually greater near the equator,
which is the result of the warm climate and high primary
productivity.
Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth, but is richest
in the tropics.
These tropical forest ecosystems cover less than 10
percent of earth's surface, and contain about 90 percent of
the world's species.
• Biodiversity, also called biological diversity,
the variety of life found in a place on Earth or,
often, the total variety of life on Earth.
• A common measure of this variety, called
species richness, is the count of species in an
area.
• These tropical forest ecosystems cover less
than 10 percent of earth's surface, and
contain about 90 percent of the world's
species.
 BENEFITS OF BIODIVERSITY
Biodiversity plays an important role in the way ecosystems
function and in the services they provide.
The following is a list of some of the benefits, or services, of
biodiversity:
•Provisioning services such as food, clean water, timber, fiber
and genetic resources.
•Regulating services such as climate, floods, disease, water
quality and pollination.
•Cultural services such as recreational, aesthetic and spiritual
benefits.
•Supporting services such as soil formation and nutrient cycling.
•A more diverse ecosystem will have more resources to help it
recover from famine, drought, disease or even the extinction of
a species.
 TYPES OF BIODIVERSITY
•Genetic Diversity – means variations of genes within a species. A
species have varieties and each variety has its own genes or genetic
makeup.
•Diversity of genes within a species increases its ability to adapt to
diseases, pollution and changes in environment.
•Within a species, many plants and some animals have as many as
4,00,000 genes. These can give rise to enormous genetic variations
in individuals in that particular species.
•Less genetic diversity leads to uniformity and reduces species
ability to adapt to changing conditions.
Example of high genetic diversity:
•A variety of colors, size and tastes among bananas and other fruits
& vegetables
•Different hair, eye, skin colors and features among humans.
Example of low genetic diversity:
•Number of animals and species are extinct due to low genetics.
2. Species Diversity - it takes into account different
number of species of organism that exists in an
ecosystem. It is measured by two parameters-
•Species richness- it is the population of a species per unit
area. If the species richness is higher, the greater will be
the species diversity.
•Species evenness or equitability - it refers to the
distribution of various species at a particular area. If more
species are evenly distributed in a particular area, the
higher will be the species richness.
Ex. If area ‘A’ has three species, with one in abundance
i.e. 80% and rest two are 10% each, and area ‘B’ with
three species but evenly distributed at 33% each, than
area B is more rich in terms of species.
3. Ecological Diversity - It is the variety of habitats
found in an area. It is the variety of forests, deserts,
grasslands, aquatic ecosystems etc. that occurs in
the area.
•India for example has high ecosystem diversity. We
have mountain ranges, lakes, deserts, temperate
forests, tropical forests, snow peaks, grasslands,
rivers, coral reefs etc.
•India is one of the 12 mega diversity countries in the
world. Due to the diverse climate conditions, there is
a complete rainbow spectrum of biodiversity in our
country.
•Greenland in the Arctic, on the other hand has little
ecosystem diversity as it is mostly ice and snow.
4. Functional Diversity - The way species
behave, obtain food and use the natural
resources of an ecosystem is known as
functional diversity.
Understanding an ecosystem’s functional
diversity can be useful to ecologists trying to
conserve or restore damaged it, because
knowing the behaviors and roles of species
can point to gaps in a food cycle or ecological
niches that are lacking species.
 Threats to Biodiversity
• Extinction or elimination of a species is a
natural process of evolution. However the
process of extinction has become
particularly fast in the recent years of
civilization.
• According to one estimate 10,000 species
become extinct in a year or 27 per day. If
the present trend continues we would loose
1/3 to 2/3 of our current biodiversity by the
middle of 21st century.
 Major threats to Biodiversity
• Loss of habitat: billions of hectares of forest
and grasslands have been cleared for
agricultural land, settlement areas or
development projects.
• Marine diversity is also under serious threat
due to large scale destruction of the fragile
breeding and feeding grounds of our
oceanic fish and other species, as a result
of human intervention.
• Man wildlife conflict: in Orissa, numerous humans
and elephants have lost their lives due to this
conflict.
• Poaching : illegal trade of wildlife products by killing
endangered animals is another threat to
biodiversity. Smuggling of wildlife items like fur,
hides, horns, tusks continue.
• Pollution: from chemical contaminants certainly
poses a further threat to species and ecosystem.
• Climate Change: Changing global climate threatens
species and ecosystem. Plants and animals may
not adjust to the changed environment.