Chapter:- 15

Biodiversity and it’s conservation

The sum of total of richness of species is called Biodiversity.

OR
Biodiversity defined as the sum of all kinds of life forms of the biosphere.
The concept of biodiversity was developed by “Edward O Wilson”.
Levels of types of Biodiversity:-
There are 3 levels of biodiversity.
1. Genetic biodiversity:-
• It may be defined as the variation in genes within a particular
species. It may be due to migration, sexual reproduction, crossing
over etc.
• It brings about recombination of genes resulting in the formation of
variation which provides mechanisms for the individuals to adjust
and survive with their ever changing environment.
• It also increases disease resistant.
• Ex:- Rice plant has more than 50000 varieties having different genetic
variations.
• India has 1.000 varieties of mango.
• Medicinal plant Rauwolfia vomitoria of Himalayan range produces
active chemical reserpine show genetic variation.

2. Species biodiversity:-
• The variety of different species present in a given region are called
species biodiversity.
• It includes viruses, Monera, Protista, Mycota , metaphyta and
metazoan.
• For example, Western Ghats have a greater amphibian species
diversity than the Eastern Ghats.
 3. Ecological biodiversity:-
• The presence of different types of ecosystem or habitats present in a
geographical area is called ecosystem biodiversity.
• For example in India the desert, rain forests, mangrove, coral reef,
wetlands, estuaries and alpine meadows has a greater ecosystem
diversity than a Scandinavian country like Norway.
How many species of plants and animals are there on Earth and How many in
India?
❖ According to IUCN (2004) International Union for Conservation of Nature
and Natural Resources, 1.5 million of plants and animals are in describe so
far.
❖ Robert may places global species diversity about 7 millions.
❖ More than 70% of all the species recorded are animals. All plants constitute
about 22% percent.
❖ Among animals insects constitute 70%.
❖ The number of fungi species in the world is more than the combined total
of the species of fishes, Amphibians, reptiles and mammals.
❖ India has only 2.4 percent of the world’s land area ; it’s share of global
species diversity is impressive 8.1% . Hence India is considered one of the
mega diversity countries of the world.

Status/profiles of biodiversity in India :- India covers about 2.4% of total land

area of the earths crust. India contributes about 8% of the biodiversity.
Patterns of Biodiversity:-
A. latitudinal Gradients:-
❖ The diversity of plants and animals is not uniform throughout the world but
shows a rather uneven distribution.
❖ Scientists have observed that species diversity decreases as we move away
from equator towards the poles.
❖ Tropical region harbours mire species than temperate or polar regions.
 ❖ Columbia located near the equator has nearly 1,400 species of birds while
New York 41°C has 105 species and Greenland at 71°N only 56 species.
❖ While India lying at tropical latitude has 1200 species of birds. Similarly, a
tropical forest in the Equator has ten times more species of vascular plants
when compared to the forest of equal area in a temperate region like the
Midwest of USA.
❖ The largely tropical Amazonian rainforest in South America has the greatest
biodiversity on earth – it is home to more than 40000 species of plants,
3.000 of fishes, 1.300 of birds, 127 of mammals, 427 of amphibians, 378 of
reptiles and more than 1.25000 invertebrates.

Note:- Tropical rainforest have greater biodiversity or tropical region have contain
more species diversity than the temperate region because,
❖ Temperate regions were subjected to frequent glaciations and drastic
climatic changes unlike the tropical latitudes.
❖ Tropical regions were subjected to lesser temperature fluctuations with
more or less stable environmental conditions.
❖ Tropical areas receive more solar energy which is the vital element for the
sustainable and multiplication of flora and fauna.
B Species Area Relationship :-
❖ It is one of the most fundamental ecological relationships observed by
German naturalist Alexander Von Humboldt.
❖ According to him “ Species richness increases with increasing explored area,
but up to a certain limit”. As the area of region increases, so does the
number of different species encountered.
❖ The relation between species richness and area for a wide variety of taxa
turns out be a rectangular hyperbola.
❖ On a logarithmic scale, the relationship is a straight line and is explained by
the equation, Log S = Log C + Z log A ( where S= species richness, A= area,
Z= slope of the line ( regression coefficient) , C= intercept).
❖ The slope of line of regression has a great significance and helps to study
the rate of species increase with area between different regions.
❖ It is seen that the value of slopes of regression in smaller areas is similar
regardless of the taxonomic group or the region. However, when a similar
analysis is done in large areas like the entire continent then the slope of
regression is much steeper.
❖ Such species area curves have been described for a wide variety of
organisms including vascular plants, birds, mammals and fishes.
Importance of species diversity to the ecosystem:-
It includes the following 3 types
1.Increased stability:-
❖ The communities with higher number of species tend to be most stable
than those with fewer number of species.
❖ A stable community is characterized by the following features:-
It should not show much variation bin productivity from year to year.
It must be resistant towards occasional natural or manmade disturbance.
It must be resistant to the invasion of alien species.

2.Higher Productivity:-
❖ “David Tillman, an American ecologist reveals that by increasing species
diversity bin an ecosystem, both the efficiency and the productivity of an
ecosystem will increase.
❖ More species showed less year to year variation in total biomass.
❖ It also makes more resources available for other species within the
ecosystem.
3.Healthy functional ecosystem:-
Paul Enrich put forth “ Rivet popper hypothesis “ to explain the importance of
each species of an ecosystem.
❖ In an airplane ( ecosystem) all parts are joined together using thousands of
rivets ( species).
❖ If every passenger travelling in it starts popping a rivet( species) 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 miss of a
few rivets on the seats or windows inside the plane.
❖ Similarly, every component of the ecosystem is important and when we
disturb the ecosystem it results in the ecological imbalance.

Loss of biodiversity :- The reduction in the number of living species of plants and
animals and destruction of ecosystem is called biodiversity depletion.
❖ The biological wealth of our planet has been declining rapidly and the
accusing finger is clearly pointing to human activities .
❖ The colonisation of tropical Pacific Islands by humans is said to have led to
the extinction of more than 2000 species of native birds.
❖ The IUCN Red List (2004) documents the extinction of, 784 species (
including 338 vertebrates, 359 invertebrates and 87 plants) in the last 500
years.
❖ Example of recent extinction includes :-1.dudo ( Mauritius) 2. Quagga (
Africa) 3. Thylacine ( Australia) 4. Steller's sea cow( Russia) 5. Three
subspecies ( Bali, Javan, Caspian) of tiger.
❖ The last twenty years alone have witnessed the disappearance of 27
species.
❖ Careful analysis of records shows that extinction across taxa are not
random; some groups like Amphibians appear to be more vulnerable to
extinction.
❖ Adding to the grim scenario of extinctions is the fact that 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 and 31% of all gymnosperm species in the world face
the threat of extinction.
❖ Loss of biodiversity in a region may lead to
1. Decline in plant production
2. Lowered resistance to environmental perturbation such as drought and
3. Increased variability in certain ecosystem processes such as plant
productivity, water use, and pest and disease cycles.
Causes of biodiversity losses:-
There are four major causes( The evil quartet)
1.Habitat loss and fragmentation:-
❖ Habitat loss is the destruction of ecosystem by unwanted human activities (
anthropogenic causes) such as urbanization, industrialisation, expansion of
agricultural lands, mining, deforestation, desertification etc.
❖ Habitat fragmentation is seen when original vegetation is cleared for
human activities as a result the habitats become divide into separate
fragments.
❖ When habitat becomes fragmented inti smaller areas, it affects the
movement of organisms which in turn reduces the exchange of genetic
material between populations leading to decline of species.
❖ Ex:- 1. The tropical rain forest once covered more than 14% of earths land
surface. Now, they occupy not more than 6% of land area.
2. Amazon forest commonly called “ lungs of the planet “ is being cut
and Cleared for cultivating soya beans or for conversion of grass land to
raise beef cattle’s.
2. Over exploitation:-
❖ When need turns to greed it leads to over exploitation of natural resources.
❖ Many species extinctions in the last 500 years ( Steller’s sea cow, passenger
pigeon) were due to over exploitation by humans.
❖ Presently many marine fish populations around the world are over
harvested b, endangering the continued existence of some commercially
important species.
3.Alien species invasion:-
❖ Alien species are species which are Trans located beyond its home range.
They are referred to as invasive species.
❖ This is a foreign species that grow and reproduce rapidly causing major
disturbances to the areas in which they present.
❖ Example:- 1. Parthenium ( carrot grass) has been designated as one of the
most trouble some weed species. It causes adverse effects on human
beings, livestock, crop production and biodiversity.
❖ Lantana occurs in diverse habits and on a variety of soil types and it’s
spread is encouraged by animal activities and by human disturbance.
❖ Eicchornia ( water hyacinth) is a very fast growing aquatic plant. This weed
block water ways, swimming and fishing, also prevents sunlight and oxygen
from reaching the water column and submerged plants.
❖ African catfish ( clarias gariepinus) :- is an invasive fish whose illegal
introduction for aqua culture purposes has led to the decreased abundance
or even total disappearance of other indigenous fish species.
❖ Nile perch an important food fish in Africa and a prized catch for sport
fishermen is also a massive environmental nightmare.
❖ The Nile perch introduced into the lake Victoria in East Africa led eventually
to the extinction of an Ecologically unique assemblage if more thanb200
species of Cichlid fish in the lake.
4.Co-extinction:- It is the simultaneous extinction of two or more species when
one is dependent on other.
Eg:- 1. Parasites would become extinct if their host fish species becomes extinct.
2. Co-evolved plant- pollinators mutualism where extinction of one invariably
leads to the extinction of other.
Benefits of biodiversity:-
Why should we conserve biodiversity?
It is broadly classified into 3 types :-
1. Narrow utilitarian- economic benefits
2. Broadly utilitarian- social/ ecological benefits
3. Ethical / cultural/ religious/ spiritual benefits

1. Narrow utilization:-
❖ It includes the essential services rendered by biodiversity with respect to
economic benefits.
❖ Human derive countless direct economic benefits from nature. They
are:-
A. Food products such as cereals, pulses, vegetables, fruits, milk, meat,
eggs etc.
B. Firewood.
C. Fibres
D. Medicinal plants
E. Construction materials.
F. Industrial products like tannins, lubricants, dyes, resins, perfumes
etc.

2. Broad utilization:-
A. It deals with the unlimited ecological services rendered by
biodiversity to human welfare.
B. According to ‘Peter raven' biodiversity keeps the planet habitable
and ecosystems functional.
C. Amazon forest alone produces 20% of total oxygen in the earths
atmosphere during photosynthesis.
D. Pollinator layer:- bees, bumblebees, birds and bats that pollinate the
plant without which fruits and seeds cannot be produced by plants.
E. Aesthetic pleasure we get from the biodiversity.

3. Ethical benefits:-
❖ We share this planet with many more millions of plants, animals and
microbes.
❖ Philosophically or spiritually, each and every species has an intrinsic
value.
❖ We have to conserve any of those species for our future generation.
Conservation of biodiversity:-
The method of protection and preservation of flora and fauna in their natural
habitats is called Conservation of biodiversity.
There are two methods of biodiversity conservation such as In situ and Ex situ
conservation.
1.In situ conservation:- Conservation of endangered species in their natural
habitats is called in situ conservation.
❖ When we conserve and protect the whole ecosystem, it’s biodiversity at all
level is protected – We save the entire forest to save the tiger. This
approach is called in situ conservation.
❖ Biodiversity hotspots:- Regions with very high levels of species Richness
and high degree of endemism . Hot spot in biodiversity is also regions of
accelerated habitat loss.
❖ Endemism:-The species that are confined to a given geographical area and
not found anywhere else.
❖ Out of 34 hot spots in the world, three hotspot located in India:-
Western Ghats and Srilanka
Indo – Burma
Himalaya

❖ Other protected area under in situ conservation are:-

❖ 14 biosphere reserve
❖ 90 National Park
❖ 448 Wild life sanctuary.
❖ Sacred groves:- Sacred groves are forests where all the trees and wildlife
bare highly respected/ venerated and given total protection because of
cultural beliefs. Significance of sacred groves are conservation of natural
forests or biodiversity.
Ex:- khasi and Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya, Aravalli Hills of Rajasthan, Western
Ghats of Karnataka and Maharashtra and the surgical, Chanda and Bastar
areas of Madhya Pradesh.
2.Ex situ conservation:- Threatened plants and animals are taken out from their
natural habitat and placed in special setting where they can be protected and
given special care.
OR
Protecting threatened species of plant and animal, outside it’s natural habitat
under human care.
Examples:- 1.Zoological parks
2. Botanical Garden
3. Wild life safari
4. Conservation of gamete by Cryopreservation.
5. Genetic strains are preserved in seed bank.
Cryopreservation:- is a process in which pollen grains can be stored at -196° C in
liquid nitrogen.
Convention on Biodiversity:-
The earth summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 called upon all nations to take
appropriate measures for conservation of biodiversity and sustainable utilization
of it’s benefits.
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 level.