Biodiversity Concepts and Recycle

of gasses in the Atmosphere

Dr. Shahid Amjad
Institute of Business Administration
(IoBM)
 Carbon Cycle
• The Carbon Cycle is a complex series of processes through
which all of the carbon atoms in existence rotate. The same
carbon atoms in nature today have been used in countless
other molecules since time began.

• The wood burned just a few decades ago could have produced
carbon dioxide which through photosynthesis became part of
a plant. When you eat that plant, the same carbon from the
wood which was burnt can become part of you.

• The carbon cycle is the great natural recycler of carbon atoms.

Without the proper functioning of the carbon cycle, every
aspect of life could be changed dramatically.
• Therefore, let's look at a sample carbon cycle and
explore how carbon atoms move through our natural
world.

• Plants, animals, and soil interact to make up the

basic cycles of nature. In the carbon cycle, plants
absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and use
it, combined with water they get from the soil, to
make the substances they need for growth.

• The process of photosynthesis incorporates the

carbon atoms from carbon dioxide into sugars.
Ecosystems Use Sunlight As Their Source of
Energy
Conservation of Matter and Energy Capture

Photosynthesis

6 CO2 + 6 H20 C6H12O6 + 6 O2

Respiration

C6H12O6 + 6 O2 6 CO2 + 6 H20

• Animals, such as the rabbit, eat the plants and use the
carbon to build their own tissues. Other animals, such as
the fox, eat the rabbit and then use the carbon for their
own needs.

• These animals return carbon dioxide into the air when they
breathe, and when they die, since the carbon is returned to
the soil during decomposition. The carbon atoms in soil
may then be used in a new plant or small microorganisms.

• Ultimately, the same carbon atom can move through many

organisms and even end in the same place where it began.
Herein lies the fascination of the carbon cycle; the same
atoms can be recycled for millennia!
 The Nitrogen Cycle
• Nitrogen is the most common gas found in the earth's atmosphere. It is necessary
for plant growth. In fact, it's necessary for the survival of all ecosystems!

• Free nitrogen 78% - the nitrogen found in the atmosphere, animal wastes, and
dead and decaying organisms - is all around. However, only a few organisms can
use it just as it is. These organisms "fix" the nitrogen for all other organisms to use.
They are called nitrogen fixing bacteria.

• In the nitrogen fixation part of the cycle, nitrogen-fixing bacteria found in the soils
and in the roots of certain plants, change (or convert) free nitrogen into substances
that other organisms can use. When the fixing process is finished, free nitrogen is
converted into nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia. These substances can be used by
plants. As the plants become food, the nitrogen can be used by animals.

• Just as there are nitrogen-fixing bacteria, some bacteria have the job of denitrifying
the soil to keep the nitrogen in balance. These bacteria take the nitrogen
compounds and return them to nitrogen gas that is released back into the
atmosphere.
 The Oxygen Cycle

• We know that oxygen is a must for life. Oxygen gas makes up about 21% of
the air in the earth's atmosphere. Green plants are key to keeping the oxygen
cycle going.

• During photosynthesis, plants use water from the soil, energy from the sun,
and carbon dioxide to make simple sugars. During this process, molecules are
split into their basic elements.

• The basic elements of a water molecule are atoms of hydrogen and oxygen.
In photosynthesis, the hydrogen is combined with carbon atoms. This allows
oxygen to be released into the atmosphere. It's one of the products of
photosynthesis.

• Oxygen is used in the process of respiration. This process releases water into
the atmosphere. The water is absorbed by plants and the cycle can begin
again!
 Concepts of Biodiversity
A tool for measuring Environmental Impact

Dr. Shahid Amjad

Institute of Business Administration
(IoBM)
 Biodiversity
• An ecosystem includes all the communities in an area, as well as the abiotic
factors in the environment. Ecosystems therefore include the water, soil,
atmosphere, all living forms in an area, as well as the energy that passes
through it.

• A healthy ecosystem includes a wide variety of species in its community.

The variety of species in an ecosystem is known as biodiversity.

• Biological diversity or Biodiversity is the variation of life forms within a

given ecosystem, biome, or on the entire Earth.

• Biodiversity has both ecological and economic values. Conservation of

biodiversity is a national imperative for us as lives and livelihoods of
millions of rural and urban people are dependent on its sustainable use –
an important point that would be reflected in our national accounting
systems.
 Biodiversity
• Biodiversity is often used as a measure of the health of biological systems.

• The biodiversity found on Earth today consists of many millions of distinct

biological species.

• When ecosystems (species, habitats, populations, communities etc.) are

disturbed or become extinct, biodiversity, stability and services provided
by the ecosystem are reduced.

• If an ecosystem has poor species diversity, it may not function properly or

efficiently.
Impacts on biodiversity
• natural
high temperature
high seawater salinity levels
volcanic eruptions
Natural calamities (storms, cyclones, tsunami etc)
Flood and drought

• man-made
Over population
Watershed management issues - deforestation
Demand for water for agriculture, domestic supply and industry
Environmental flows
Hydropower developments
loss of habitat
degradation of resources
soil erosion (erosion of the beaches due to negative sediment load)
deforestation
Climate change
overgrazing
pollution of environment
Habitat Destruction
 Calculating Species Diversity

• Biological communities vary in the number of species they contain and a

knowledge of this number is important in understanding the structure of the
community. The number of species in a community is referred to as species
richness.
• The relative abundance of species is also important. For example, two
communities may both contain the same number of species but one
community may be dominated by one species while the other community may
contain large numbers of all species.
• The relative abundance of rare and common species is called Evenness.
Communities dominated by one or a few species have a low evenness while
those that have a more even distribution of species have a high evenness.
• Species diversity, includes both species richness and evenness. Communities
with a large number of species that are evenly distributed are the most
diverse, and communities with few species that are dominated by one species
are the least diverse.
• For some ecological investigations, it may be useful to measure diversity of one
taxonomic group. For example, if a plant ecologist were interested in studying
species of plants, they would measure plant diversity and exclude other kinds
of organisms.
 Measuring Diversity

Shannon- Wiener Diversity Index

s
H = -Σpi ln pi
i=1

Where
pi = ni/N (ni being the number of individuals of the ith)
s = total number of species.

Equation can be rearranged to produce an equation that is easier for

performing the calculations.

• H' = N ln N - (ni ln ni) + (n2 ln n2) + (n3 ln n3) …………… (nx ln nx)
N

• Evenness (J) J = H’/H max

Where
H’ is diversity and H max = ln(s)
 Species   No. of Individuals 

Species A 32

Species B 18

Species C 12
 Example Using Equation
First, calculate N.
N = 32 + 18 + 12 = 62.
Then
62 ln 62 – [(32 ln 32) + (18 ln 18) + (12 ln 12)]
H' = 
62

255.88 - (110.90 + 52.03 + 29.82)

 H'  = 
62

255.88 - (192.75) = 1.02

 H'  = 
62

For calc. Evenness Take natural logarithms of species richness “Ln(S)."

In this example, ln(3) equals 1.099.

Evenness (J) = H’ /HMax = 1.02/1.099 = 0.9281

Location 1 Location 2 Location 3 Location 4
 Number of Individuals of Each Species in
Example of Biodiversity   the Sample
Measurements   Location
1
Location
2
Location
3
Location
4
•The table illustrates the species a 96 20 81 5
species b 1 20 1 5
difference between S and H' for species c 1 20 1 5
samples of 100 individuals from four species d 1 20 1 5
species e 1 20 1 5
imaginary communities: species f 1 5
species g 1 5
•The information index H' does species h 1 5
parallel your intuitive expectations species i 1 5
species j 1 5
even with these highly unlikely species k 1 5
species l 1 5
imaginary communities. species m 1 5
species n 1 5
•With their greater numbers of species o 1 5
species, community 4 has a greater species p 1 5
species q 1 5
diversity (larger H' value) than species r 1 5
species s 1 5
community 1, 2, 3. species t 1 5
•With their more even
distribution of species, community 2 S 5 5 20 20
has a greater diversity than H' 0.22 1.60 1.05 2.99
community 1 and community 4 has
a greater diversity than community
3.
Sampling Station and Benthic Species during construction in PQA.
Sampling Station and Benthic Species in PQA. After completion 2 years
 Sampling Station and Benthic Species in PQA. Baseline
Data (Before). Calculate Sp diversity Index
  After (6 mo) Baseline (B4) Construction
Species No. of Individuals
A 2 2 2
B 3 3 3
C 4 4 4
D 1 1 1
E 1 1 1
F 6 6 1
G 10 10 6
H   1 50
I   1  

Index H’ 1.666 1.85 1.035

Evenness (J) = H’ /HMax 0.854 0.843 0.497
 3

2
 Location 1 Location 2 Location 3

Species No. of Individuals

A 2 25 2

B 2

C 4 4

D 1 1 1

E 1 15 1

F 6 6 1

G 10 10 6

H 8 60

I 20 1

J 1 1 4
 Community 1 Community 2 Community 3
Species No. of Individuals
A 2 25 2
B 2
C 4 4
D 1 1 1
E 1 15 1
F 6 6 1
G 10 10 6
H 8 60
I 20 1
J 1 1 4

H’= 1.85 H’=1.45 H’=0.965

J=0.804 J=0.747 J=0.464
 Sampling Station and Benthic Species in PQA. Data
(During Operations). Calculate Sp diversity Index
  Station 1 Station 2 Station 3
Species No. of Individuals 
A 2 2 1
B 1 0 1
C 2 4 3
D 1 0 0
E 1 0 1
F 3 6 1
G 15 1 6
H     50

Index H’ 1.3492 1.205 0.815

Evenness (J) = H’/HMax 0.6935 0.869 0.419
 Loss in Biodiversity

In general terms, population growth and our consumption are the reasons for the enormous
loss in species diversity. There are 100 million different species co-existing with us on our
planet. Approx 10,000 and 100,000 species are becoming extinct each year. Some of the
major causes of Biodiversity losses are;

• Over exploitation of resources

• Poverty
• Habitat destruction
• Destruction of Spawning and breeding grounds
• Building of Dams (restricting of aquatic migration fish)
• Overexploitation of resources (overfishing, over use of resources)
• Reduction in freshwater resources
• Deforestation (cutting down trees in the forest)
• Pollution of the environment (Lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere,)
• Excessive use of insecticide, pesticides (pest control)
• Climate change (extreme climate events)
• Excessive rainfall and flooding
• Drought (very little or no rainfall)
• Wildfires.
• Wildlife trade in endangered species are the major causes of population decline in species.
Loss of fisheries
• over exploitation/no fishing during spawning season
• reduced freshwater flow – increased salinity
• Eutrophication, organic & inorganic effluents – reduced dissolved
Oxygen (O2) in Water
• destruction of mangrove – loss of nursery grounds

Turtles
Two species
Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas)
Olive Ridley (Lepidochley olivacea)

• Protection of habitat (breeding grounds)

• Protection of hatchlings
 Number and Status of Species
• Higher Plants
– Total known species (number), 1992-2002 4,950
– Number of threatened species, 2002 2
• Mammals
– Total known species (number), 1992-2002 188
– Number of threatened species, 2002 19
• Breeding Birds
– Total known species (number), 1992-2002 237
– Number of threatened species, 2002 17
• Reptiles
– Number of Total Known Species, 1992-2003 189
– Number of threatened species, 2002 9
• Amphibians
– Number of Total Known Species, 1992-2003 17
– Number of threatened species, 2002 0
• Fish
– Number of Total Known Species, 1992-2003 1000
– Number of threatened species, 1992-2002 3
 Threatened Species
Threatened Species include "all full species categorized at the global level as Critically Endangered,
Endangered or Vulnerable."

• Threatened species are classified in one of 3 categories:

1. Critically Endangered:
– includes species facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future.
2. Endangered:
– includes species that are not "Critically Endangered" but are facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the
near future
3. Vulnerable:
– includes species facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the medium-term future.

• For each threat category, five criteria A-E are used to classify species in one of the three categories
mentioned above:

A- Declining population
B- Small population and decline or fluctuation
C- Small population size and decline
D- Very small population/very restricted distribution
E- Quantitative analysis (e.g. Population Viability Analysis)

• Data on threatened species are compiled and maintained by the IUCN in their Red List of Threatened
Animals and the World
 Threatened Species
• Indus River Dolphin Platanista
gangetica minor

• White-backed Vulture Gyps bengalensis

• Snow Leopard Uncia uncia

• Common Leopard Panthera pardus

• Gavial Gavialis gangetica

• Green Turtle Chlonia mydas

• Olive Ridley Turtle Lepidochelys olivacea

• Rough tooth Dolphin Steno bredanensis

• Eastern Bottle-nosed Dolphin Tursiops

truncatus

(Courtesy WWF- Pakistan)