environmental

environmental
science
science

Dharmsinh Desai University – Nadiad

 UNIT 4
BIODIVERSITY
 Syllabus
Unit 4: Biodiversity and its conservation
⚫Introduction definition: Genetic, species and ecosystem diversity
⚫Bio-geographical classification of India
⚫Value of biodiversity: Consumptive use, productive use, social, ethical,
aesthetic and option values
⚫Biodiversity at global, national and local levels
⚫India as a mega-diversity nation
⚫Hot-spots of biodiversity
⚫Threats to biodiversity, habitat loss, poaching of wildlife, man-wildlife
conflicts
⚫Endangered and endemic species of India
⚫Conservation of biodiversity: In-situ and ex-situ conservation of biodiversity
 Bio diversity
• Various forms of life on earth were provided for man’s
need
• This diversity of living creatures forms a support
system which has been used by each civilization for its
growth and development.
• Those that used this “bounty of nature” (Gift of nature)
carefully and sustainably survived. Those that overused
or misused it dis-integrated.
• Science has attempted to classify and categorize the
variability in nature for over a century.
• This has led to an understanding of its organization
into communities of plants and animals.
What is biodiversity?
⚫Biodiversity is part of nature which include the
difference in genes among the individuals of species.
⚫Biological diversity deals with the degree of nature’s
variety in the biosphere.
⚫This variety can be observed at Three levels;
⚫the genetic variability within a species(Genetic Diversity)
⚫the variety of species within a community (species
Diversity) and
⚫the organisation of species in an area into distinctive
plant and animal communities constitutes ecosystem
diversity (Ecosystem Diversity)
Genetic diversity
⚫Each member of any animal or plant species differs
widely from other individuals
⚫Thus, for example, each human being is very
different from all others.
⚫This genetic variability is essential for a healthy
breeding population of a species.
⚫If the number of breeding individuals is reduced, the
dissimilarity of genetic makeup is reduced and in-
breeding occurs. Eventually this can lead to the
extinction of the species.
Genetic diversity
⚫ The diversity in wild species forms the ‘gene pool’
from which our crops and domestic animals have
been developed over thousands of years.
⚫Today the variety of nature’s bounty is being further
harnessed by using wild relatives of crop plants to
create new varieties of more productive crops and to
breed better domestic animals.
⚫Modern biotechnology manipulates genes for
developing better types of medicines and a variety of
industrial products.
Species diversity
⚫The number of species of plants and animals that are
present in a region constitutes its species diversity.
⚫This diversity is seen both in natural ecosystems and
in agricultural ecosystems
⚫Some areas are more rich in species than others.
⚫ Natural un-disturbed tropical forests have a much
greater species richness than plantations developed
by the Forest Department for timber production.
⚫Thus the value of a natural forest, with all its species
richness is much greater than a plantation.
Ecosystem diversity
⚫There are a large variety of different ecosystems on earth,
which have their own complement of distinctive inter
linked species based on the differences in the habitat.
⚫Ecosystem diversity can be described for a specific
geographical region, or a political entity such as a country,
a State or a taluka.
⚫Distinctive ecosystems include landscapes such as forests,
grasslands, deserts, mountains, etc., as well as aquatic
ecosystems such as rivers, lakes, and the sea. Each region
also has man-modified areas such as farmland or grazing
pastures.
⚫‘Natural ecosystem’ - when it is relatively undisturbed by
human activities,
⚫‘Modified ecosystem’ - when it is changed to other types
of uses, such as farmland or urban areas.
 Biogeographic Classification of India
⚫Our country can be conveniently divided into ten major
regions, based on the
⚫Geography
⚫climate
⚫pattern of vegetation seen
⚫the communities of mammals
⚫birds,
⚫Reptiles (cold-blooded vertebrates ex. Crocodile, turtle,lizard)
⚫Amphibia(double life – frogs,toads)
⚫insects
⚫that live in them.
⚫Each of these regions contains a variety of ecosystems such
as forests, grasslands, lakes, rivers, wetlands, mountains and
hills, which have specific plant and animal species.
India’s Biogeographic Zones
1. The cold mountainous snow covered Trans Himalayan
region of Ladakh.
2. The Himalayan ranges and valleys of Kashmir, Himachal
Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Assam and other North Eastern States.
3. The Terai, the lowland where the Himalayan rivers flow into
the plains.
4. The Gangetic and Bhramaputra plains.
5. The Thar Desert of Rajasthan.
6. The semi arid grassland region of the Deccan plateau
Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil
Nadu.
7. The Northeast States of India,
8. The Western Ghats in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala.
9. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
10. The long western and eastern coastal belt with sandy
beaches, forests and mangroves.
Value of Biodiversity - Direct value
1.Consumptive use value
⚫The direct utilisation of timber, food, fuelwood, fodder by
local communities.
⚫The biodiversity held in the ecosystem provides forest
dwellers with all their daily needs, food, building material,
fodder, medicines and a variety of other products.
⚫They know the qualities and different uses of wood from
different species of trees, and collect a large number of
local fruits, roots and plant material that they use as food,
construction material or medicines.
⚫Fisherfolk are highly dependent on fish and know where
and how to catch fish and other edible aquatic animals
and plants.
2.Productive use value
⚫Marketable goods
⚫The biotechnologist uses biorich areas to ‘prospect’ and
search for potential genetic properties in plants or animals
that can be used to develop better varieties of crops that
are used in farming and plantation programs or to develop
better livestock.
⚫To the pharmacist, biological diversity is the raw material
from which new drugs can be identified from plant or
animal products.
⚫To industrialists, biodiversity is a rich store-house from
which to develop new products. For the agricultural
scientist the biodiversity in the wild relatives of crop
plants is the basis for developing better crops.
Indirect value
1.Social values
⚫While traditional societies which had a small population
and required less resources had preserved their
biodiversity as a life supporting resource, modern man has
rapidly depleted it even to the extent of leading to the
irrecoverable loss due to extinction of several species.
⚫Thus apart from the local use or sale of products of
biodiversity there is the social aspect in which more and
more resources are used by affluent societies.
⚫The biodiversity has to a great extent been preserved by
traditional societies that valued it as a resource and
appreciated that its depletion would be a great loss to
their society.
⚫ In recent years farmers have begun to receive
economic incentives to grow cash crops for national
or international markets, rather than to supply local
needs.
⚫This has resulted in local food shortages,
unemployment (cash crops are usually mechanised),
landlessness and increased vulnerability to drought
and floods.
 2.Ethical and moral values
⚫Ethical values related to biodiversity conservation are based on the
importance of protecting all forms of life.
⚫All forms of life have the right to exist on earth.
⚫Man is only a small part of the Earth’s great family of species.
⚫ Don’t plants and animals have an equal right to live and exist on
our planet which is like an inhabited spaceship?
⚫We do not know if life as we know it exists elsewhere in the
universe.
⚫Do we have the right to destroy life forms or do we have a duty to
protect them?
⚫Apart from the economic importance of conserving biodiversity,
there are several cultural, moral and ethical values which are
associated with the sanctity of all forms of life. Indian civilization
has over several generations preserved nature through local
traditions.
⚫This has been an important part of the ancient
philosophy of many of our cultures.
⚫ We have in our country a large number of sacred
groves or ‘deorais’ preserved by tribal people in
several States.
⚫These sacred groves around ancient sacred sites and
temples act as gene banks of wild plants.
 3.Aesthetic value
⚫Knowledge and an appreciation of the presence of biodiversity for
its own sake is another reason to preserve it.
⚫Quite apart from killing wildlife for food, it is important as a
tourist attraction.
⚫Biodiversity is a beautiful and wonderful aspect of nature.
⚫Sit in a forest and listen to the birds. Watch a spider weave its
complex web.
⚫Observe a fish feeding. It is magnificent and fascinating.
⚫Symbols from wild species such as the lion of Hinduism, the
elephant of Buddhism and deities such as Lord Ganesh, and the
vehicles of several deities that are animals, have been venerated for
thousands of years.
⚫Valmiki begins his epic story with a couplet on the unfortunate
killing of a crane by a hunter.
⚫The ‘Tulsi’ has been placed at our doorsteps for centuries.
4.Option value
⚫Keeping future possibilities open for their use is called
option value.
⚫It is impossible to predict which of our species or
traditional varieties of crops and domestic animals will
be of great use in the future.
⚫To continue to improve cultivars and domestic
livestock, we need to return to wild relatives of crop
plants and animals.
⚫Thus the preservation of biodiversity must also include
traditionally used strains already in existence in crops
and domestic animals.
Bio diversity at global, national and local
level
⚫There are at present 1.8 million species known and
documented by scientists in the world.
⚫However, scientists have estimated that the number of
species of plants and animals on earth could vary from 1.5 to
20 billion! Thus the majority of species are yet to be
discovered.
⚫Bio-reach nations are in South which are developing nation.
⚫In contrast, the majority of the countries capable of exploiting
biodiversity are Northern nations, in the economically
developed world.
⚫Developed nation – low level of biodiversity
⚫Thus the developed world has come to support the concept
that biodiversity must be considered to be a ‘global resource’.
⚫Countries with diversities higher than India are
located in South America such as Brazil, and South
East Asian countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia.
⚫The species found in these countries, however, are
different from our own. This makes it imperative to
preserve our own biodiversity as a major economic
resource.
⚫While few of the other ‘megadiversity nations’ have
developed the technology to exploit their species for
biotechnology and genetic engineering, India is
capable of doing so.
 Steps taken to protect biodiversity
⚫Throughout the world, the value of biologically rich natural areas is now
being increasingly appreciated as being of unimaginable value.
⚫International agreements such as the World Heritage Convention
attempt to protect and support such areas.
⚫India is a signatory to the convention and has included several protected
Areas as World Heritage sites.
These include
⚫Manas on the border between Bhutan and India,
⚫Kaziranga in Assam,
⚫Bharatpur in U.P.,
⚫Nandadevi in the Himalayas, and
⚫the Sunderbans in the Ganges delta in West Bengal.
⚫India has also signed the Convention in the Trade of Endangered
Species (CITES) which is intended to reduce the utilization of
endangered plants and animals by controlling trade in their products
and in the pet trade.
 INDIA as a Mega Diversity Nation
⚫Among the biologically rich nations, India stands among the
top 10 or 15 countries for its great variety of
⚫Plants
⚫animals, many of which are not found elsewhere.
India has
⚫350 different mammals (rated eight highest in the world),
⚫1,200 species of birds (eighth in the world),
⚫453 species of reptiles (fifth in the world) and
⚫45,000 plant species, of which most are angiosperms,
(fifteenth in the world). These include especially high species
diversity of ferns (1022 species) and orchids (1082 species).
⚫India has 50,000 known species of insects, including 13,000
butterflies and moths. It is estimated that the number of
unknown species could be several times higher.
Endemism
⚫It is estimated that 18% of Indian plants are endemic
to the country and found nowhere else in the world.
⚫Among the plant species the flowering plants have
a much higher degree of endemism, a third of these
are not found elsewhere in the world.
⚫Among amphibians found in India, 62% are unique
to this country.
⚫Among lizards, of the 153 species recorded, 50% are
endemic.
⚫High endemism has also been recorded for various
groups of insects, marine worms, centipedes, mayflies
and fresh water sponges.
⚫Gene-banks have collected over 34,000 cereals and
22,000 pulses grown in India.
India has
⚫27 indigenous breeds of cattle
⚫ 40 breeds of sheep
⚫22 breeds of goats
⚫8 breeds of buffaloes.
Hotspots of Biodiversity
⚫The earth’s biodiversity is distributed in specific ecological
regions.
⚫There are over a thousand major ecoregions in the world.
⚫Of these, 200 are said to be the richest, rarest and most
distinctive natural areas. These areas are referred to as the
Global 200.
⚫It has been estimated that 50,000 endemic plants which
comprise 20% of global plant life, probably occur in only 18
‘hot spots’ in the world.
⚫Countries which have a relatively large proportion of these
hot spots of diversity are referred to as ‘megadiversity
nations’.
⚫The rate at which the extinction of species is occurring
throughout our country remains obscure.
Hotspot of India
⮚ Forests of the North-East
⮚ The Western Ghats,
⮚ The Andaman and Nicobar Islands
⚫Among the endemic species i.e. those species found only in India, a
large proportion are concentrated in these three areas.
⚫The Andaman and Nicobar Islands - 2200 species of flowering
plants and 120 species of ferns and coral reefs
⚫The Northeast – 135 which is 85 (63%) of land mammals and1,500
endemic plant species
⚫Western Ghats - A major proportion of amphibian and reptile
species, especially snakes and also a habitat for 1,500 endemic plant
species.
⚫Coral reefs in Indian waters surround the Andaman and Nicobar
Islands, Lakshadweep Islands, the Gulf areas of Gujarat and Tamil
Nadu.
⚫They are nearly as rich in species as tropical evergreen forests!
Threats to Biodiversity:
⚫Habitat loss,
⚫Poaching of wildlife,
⚫Man-wildlife conflicts
Habitat loss
⚫Man has begun to overuse or misuse most of these natural
ecosystems.
⚫Due to this ‘unsustainable’ resource-use,
⚫once productive forests and grasslands have been turned into
deserts and wasteland have increased all over the world.
⚫Mangroves have been cleared for fuelwood and prawn
farming, which has led to a decrease in the habitat essential
for breeding of marine fish.
⚫Wetlands have been drained to increase agricultural land.
⚫ The current destruction of the remaining large areas of
wilderness habitats, especially in the super diverse tropical
forests and coral reefs, is the most important threat
worldwide to biodiversity.
⚫Scientists have estimated that human activities are likely to
eliminate approximately 10 million species by the year 2050.
 CASE STUDY:
⚫Kokkare Bellure – Karnataka: Co-existence (Man and Wildlife)
⚫The pelican, which is an endangered species breeds in large numbers at
Kokkare Bellur which is one of the ten known breeding sites in India.
Kokkare Bellure is a village in Karnataka in Southern India. In December
every year, hundreds of spot billed pelicans, painted storks, ibis and other
birds migrate to this area to establish breeding colonies on the tall
tamarind trees in the center of the village. The local people have
protected the birds, believing that they bring good luck with regard to
rain and crops. The villagers collect a rich supply of the natural fertilizer
that collects below the nests – the guano . The droppings of fish-eating
birds are rich in nitrates.
⚫The owners of the trees inhabited by the birds dig deep pits under the
⚫ trees, into which the guano falls. Silt from nearby lakes and ponds is
⚫mixed with the guano which is used in their fields and sold as fertilizer.
⚫ They have now planted trees around their homes to encourage nesting.
 Poaching
⚫Poaching : Specific threats to certain animals are
related to large economic benefits.
✔ Skin and bones from tigers,
✔ ivory from elephants,
✔ horns from rhinos and
✔ the perfume from the must deer are extensively used
abroad.
✔ Bears are killed for their gall bladders.
✔ Corals and shells are also collected for export or sold
on the beaches of Chennai and Kanyakumari.
⚫A variety of wild plants with real or at times dubious
medicinal value are being over harvested.
Endangered and Endemic Species of India
⚫To appreciate the endemic and endangered species of
India it is important to understand the wide variety of
plant and animal species that are found in the country.
⚫Of the well-known species, there are several which are
endangered by human activity.
⚫The endangered species in the country are categorised
as Vulnerable, Rare, Indeterminate and Threatened.
⚫Other species are found only in India and are thus
endemic or restricted to our country. Some of these may
have very localized distribution and are considered
highly endemic.
⚫important endangered animals - the tiger, the
elephant, the rhino, etc.
⚫major mammals restricted to a single area -the
Indian wild ass, the Hangul or Kashmir stag, the
Golden langur, the pygmy hog
⚫endangered bird species such as the Siberian crane,
the Great Indian Bustard, the Florican and several
birds of prey.
⚫Vultures disappearance or extinction?????
 Common Plant species
⚫Teak
⚫Origin region -Southwest parts of peninsular India.
⚫ It is a common tree in deciduous forests.
⚫Use - making excellent furniture and to build ships.
⚫Teak is grown extensively by the Forest Department and is a
highly priced wood.
⚫Characteristics :
✔ large leaves
✔ which grow to more than 40 or 50cms long and 20cms wide.
✔ tiny flowers and fruit.
⚫In the winter, the trees shed all their leaves.
⚫In the growing season, which begins in April and extends
through the monsoon, teak forests are bright green and
shady.
⚫Most natural teak forests have various other species of plants
and have a large number of wild animals. Some areas of teak
forests that have exceptional populations of wildlife have
been included in our National Parks and Wildlife
Sanctuaries.
 Sal
⚫Origin region :forests of the Northeastern
region of India, extending into Madhya
Pradesh and Orissa.
⚫ It has bright green foliage and its canopy
remains green nearly throughout the year.
⚫Sal wood is hard and durable.
⚫Sal gets a large number of seeds which are
used in making cosmetics.
⚫The sal forests are rich in wild mammals,
birds, reptiles and insect life. Several areas
are included in our network of National
Parks and Sanctuaries.
Conservation of Biodiversity:
⚫Two ways
⚫In situ
⚫Ex situ
 In-situ conservation
⚫Biodiversity at all its levels, genetic species and as intact
ecosystems, can be best preserved insitu by setting aside an
adequate representation of wilderness as ‘ Protected Areas’.
⚫These should consist of a network of National Parks and
Wildlife Sanctuaries with each distinctive ecosystem included
in the network.
⚫In the past National Parks and Sanctuaries in India were
notified to preserve major wildlife species such as tigers,
lions, elephants, and deer.
⚫The objective of these areas should be expanded to the
preservation of relatively intact natural ecosystems, where
biological diversity – from microscopic unicellular plants
and animals, to the giant trees and major mammals – can
all be preserved.
Project Tiger:
⚫Launched by the Government of India with the support
of WWF-International in 1973
⚫the first such initiative aimed at protecting this key
species and all its habitats.
⚫Project Tiger was initiated in nine Tiger Reserves in
different ecosystems of the country covering an area of
16339 sq km.
⚫By 2001 the number of Tiger Reserves increased to 27,
covering an area of 37761 sq km. The tiger count climbed
from 268 in 1972 in the nine Tiger Reserves, to around 1500
in 1997 in the 23 Tiger Reserves.
⚫The Project tiger recognized the fact that tigers cannot be
protected in isolation, and that to protect the tiger, its
habitat needed to be protected.
Crocodile Conservation:
⚫Crocodiles have been threatened as their skin is used for
making leather articles.
⚫This led to the near extinction of crocodiles in the wild in
the 1960s in India.
⚫A Crocodile Breeding and Conservation Program was
initiated in 1975 to protect the remaining population of
crocodilians in their natural habitat and by creating
breeding centers.
⚫It is perhaps one of the most successful ex situ
conservation breeding projects in the country.
⚫Crocodiles have been extensively bred in over 30 captive
breeding centers, zoos and other sites where successful
breeding takes place.
⚫Thousands of crocodiles of all three species have been bred
and restocked in 20 natural water bodies.