UNIT-II

Ecosystem and Biodiversity

Ecosystems:
Concept and components of an ecosystem -structural and functional
features – Functional attributes (Food chain and Food web only).
Biodiversity:
Introduction – Classification – Bio-geographical classification of India-
Value of biodiversity – Threats and Conservation of biodiversity - case studies.
 Ecosystems
A self-regulating group of biotic communities of species interacting with one another
and with their non-living environment exchanging energy and matter.
Study of the ecosystems is often known as - Ecology
Ecosystems consists of interacting plants, animals and microorganisms as well as
non-living components (soil, water, O2 etc,.)
Life on the earth is sustained by the flow of energy from the sun and cycling of
nutrients through the ecosystems
 Structural and Functional Components of Ecosystems
Each ecosystem comprises of two basic components
1. Abiotic Components 2. Biotic components
 Abiotic Components or Non-living components
These include the non-living, physico-chemical factors such as air, water, soil, elements
and compounds of the environment. It is broadly classified as

1. Climatic factors- which include the climatic regime and physical factors of the
environment like sunlight, humidity, temperature, wind, rainfall,
water, etc.,

2. Edapic factors - which are related to the structure and composition of soil such as
minerals, soil organisms, organic substances, etc.,

Biotic Components or Living components

 It comprises the living part of the environment (like plants & animals) which is made
up of many different inter-dependent organisms. Biotic components are distinguished
into autotrophs, heterotrophs, saprotrophs.
 I. Autotrophs or producers – which can synthesize their food
themselves from compounds that are obtained from their environment.
 Photoautotrophs – mainly green plants uses light as energy source
and synthesize their food themselves through the process of
photosynthesis.
 Chemo-autotrophs: chemo-autotrophs are microorganisms which can
produce food to some extent through oxidation of certain chemicals in
the absence of sunlight.
 Ex. Chemoautotropic sulphur bacteria make use of the heat generated
by the decay of radioactive elements (present in the earth’s core and
released in ocean’s depths). They use this heat to convert dissolved H 2S
and CO2 into organic food sources.
II. Heterotrophs or Consumers:
They mainly depend on the producers for their food.

They are further classified as

1.Herbivores or primary consumers
2.Carnivores or Meat eaters
3.Omnivores

1.Herbivores or primary consumers:

They directly feed on producers. Eg. insects, rabbit.

2.Carnivores or Meat eaters: They feed on other animals for their food

 Primary carnivores or secondary consumers:

They take food from herbivorous animals. Eg. Fox
 Secondary carnivores or tertiary consumers:
They take food from primary carnivores. Eg.Wolf
Tertiary carnivores or quaternary consumers:
They take food from other carnivores. Eg.lion.

3.Omnivores: They take food from both plants and animals.

Eg. Birds, humans, rat

4.Detritivores: They feed on dead organisms.

Eg. beetles, vultures, ants, termites

III. Saprotrophs or Decomposers

They derive their nutrition by breaking down the complex
organic molecules to simple organic compounds and ultimately
into inorganic nutrients. Eg. Bacteria, fungi
In few ecosystem, biotic structure prevails eg. Forest, while in others
decomposers predominates
Eg. Deep ocean
 Functions of Ecosystems

Each ecosystem functions systematically under natural conditions.

It receives energy from sun and transfers it through various biotic and abiotic
components.
All life on earth depends upon this flow of energy. Besides energy, various nutrients
and water also exchanged within the biotic and abiotic community.

Tropic levels (or) Feeding levels

 The various steps through which food energy passes in an ecosystem is
called as Tropic level.
1st Trophic Level: Producer, 2nd Trophic Level: Primary Consumer
3rd Trophic Level: Secondary Consumer 4th Trophic Level: Tertiary Consumer

The transfer of energy and nutrient occurs in the following ways

1.Food Chain
2.Food Web
1. Food Chain : Sequence of eating and being eaten in an ecosystem
 All organisms, living or dead, are potential food for some other organisms.
Food chains in ecosystems are rarely found to function as isolated linear sequences.
They are found to be interconnected and usually form a complex network with several
linkages known as food web.
 2. Food Web : Interlocking pattern of various food chains of an ecosystem

Food web is a network of food chains where different organisms are connected at
different tropic levels, so that there are a number of options of eating and being eaten at
each tropic level.
Nature has evolved food webs in ecosystems instead of simple linear food chains
Because food webs give greater stability to the ecosystem.

In linear food chain, if one species becomes

extinct then the species in subsequent
tropic levels are also affected.

In food web there are a number of options

available at each tropic level. So if one species
Is affected, it does not affect other tropic levels.
 Significance of food chains and food webs

1. Energy flow and nutrient recycling takes place through them

2. Regulates population size of organisms and maintain ecological balance
3. Food chains show a unique property of biological magnification of some
chemicals.
Non-biodegradable chemicals are not decomposed by microorganisms
and they keep on passing from one tropic level to another. At each successive
tropic level, concentration of chemical increasing. This phenomenon is known
as biological magnification
 Case Study
Bio-magnification of DDT

Bio-magnification happens when toxic chemicals, like DDT, whose remains in

the environment are consumed indirectly by organisms through food. When an
organism in the higher food chain consumes the lower organism containing such
chemicals, the chemicals can get accumulated in the higher organism. In other words, it
travels through the food chain harming every single stratum. The concentration of these
toxins or chemicals increases through the trophic levels of the food chain.

Moreover, because of its non-biodegradable character, it can remain in soil or water for
many years leading to a very dangerous and concerning process – bio-magnification.
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  On the basis of model-based grouping, neighbour-joining tree and principal coordinate
analysis, we confirmed the widely accepted five major groups of rice cultivars (indica, aus,
aromatic, temperate japonica and tropical japonica), and demonstrated that rayada rice was
unique in genealogy and should be treated as a new (the sixth) major group of rice
germplasm.
 Additionally, every species has other, more distantly related species. These two species share
a more general set of traits.

The Oryza sativa family

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 Values of Biodiversity:
The biodiversity value has been classified by McNeely et al in 1990 as follows;

(i) Consumptive use value

(ii) Productive use value

(iii) Social value

(iv) Ethical value

(v) Aesthetic value

(vi) Option value

(vii) Ecosystem service value

Apr 25, 2024
 (i) Consumptive use Value:
These are direct use values where the biodiversity product can be
harvested and consumed directly
e.g. food, fodder, timber, fuel wood, etc.

Humans use at least 40,000 species of plants and animals on a daily basis.
Many people around the world still depend on wild species for most of their needs like
food, shelter and clothing. The tribal people are completely dependent on the forests for
their daily needs.
Similarly, fishermen in the coastal areas are dependent on the marine
resources. The wood derived from the forests has been used from the birth of civilization
as fuel.

Apr 25, 2024

 (ii) Productive Use Value:
This is assigned to products that are commercially harvested and
marketed.

It may include lumber or wild gene resources that can be traded for use by
scientists for introducing desirable traits in the crops and domesticated animals. These
may include the animal products like tusks of elephants, musk from musk deer, silk
rom silk-worm, wool from sheep, fur of many animals, lac from lac insects etc. all of
which are traded in the market.

Apr 25, 2024

 (iii) Social Value:
These are the values associated with the social life, customs, religion and
psycho-spiritual aspects of the people.
While traditional societies had valued and preserved their biodiversity
and its resources, modern man has depleted it up to the extent leading to
irrecoverable loss due to extinction of several species.
Ecosystem people’ value biodiversity as a part of their livelihood , as well
as through cultural and religious sentiments.

Apr 25, 2024

 (iv) Ethical Value:
Ethical values of biodiversity are based on the importance of protecting all form of life. It
is known as existence value. It involves ethical issues like “all life must be preserved”. It is based
on the concept of “Live and Let Live”. If we want our human race to survive, then we must protect
all biodiversity, because biodiversity is valuable.

Most religious and secular creeds believe that all form of life have the right to exist on
Earth. Man is only a small part of the Earth’s great family of species; plants and animals have an
equal right to live and exist on our planet. There are several cultural, moral and ethical values,
associated with the holiness of all forms of life.

Morality and ethics teach us to preserve all forms of life and not to harm any organism
unnecessarily. Some people take pleasure in the hunting of animals. People also sometimes
degrade and pollute the environment by their unethical actions.

Apr 25, 2024

 (v) Aesthetic Value:

The beauty of our planet is because of biodiversity, which otherwise would have
resembled other barren planets dotted around the universe. Biological diversity adds to
the quality of life and provides some of the most beautiful aspects of our existence.
Biodiversity is responsible for the beauty of a landscape. Humans are also attracted
towards the biologically rich regions and nobody likes to live or visit a barren place.
People go to far off places to enjoy the natural surroundings and wildlife.
This type of tourism is referred to as eco-tourism, which has now become a
major source of income in many countries. Eco-tourism includes visiting wildlife
sanctuaries, national parks, coral reefs, exotic islands, safaris and trekking in the
mountainous and forested areas. In some countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Kenya, Rwanda,
eco-tourism has now become the major source of foreign currency income.

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 (vi) Optional Value:

This refers to the value of biodiversity that is yet unknown, but needs to be
explored for future possibilities and use. Scientists have discovered and named about
1.75 million species, which is of utmost importance. We should preserve all the world’s
biodiversity that can be used by the future generations.
A species potential to provide an economic benefit to human society at some
point in the future is its option value. As the needs of the society change , so must the
methods of satisfying those needs. The option value of species could be only recently
utilized by human beings

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 Health agencies and pharmaceutical companies are making a major effort to
collect and screen species for compounds that have the ability to fight cancer.
In some cases well known species have been found to have exactly those
properties needed to deal with a significant human problem.

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 (vii) Ecosystem service value:

The suite of benefits that people receive from the environment.

Include:
Primary production
Flood control
Climate regulation
Waste treatment
Water purification, etc...

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 Ecosystem services

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 Current state of ecosystem services:

Capacity of ecosystems to provide services is decreasing.

Pressure from deforestation

habitat modification

fragmentation, intensification of land use

invasive species

pollution

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 Role of plants in ecosystem services
FOOD WOOD

FIBRE MEDICINE

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Role of plants in ecosystem services:
Water purification Carbon sequestration

Flood prevention Waste treatment

 Global biodiversity hotspots:

A biodiversity hotspot is a
region with a high level
of endemic species.

• Hotspots were first named in 1988 by Dr. Sabina V.

• To qualify as a hotspot, an area must hold at least 1500 endemic species – Brazil's
Atlantic Forest is containing roughly 20,000 plant species &1,350 vertebrates etc

• All 34 hotspots contain 50% plant species, 42% terrestrial vertebrates.

• Hotspots cover 15.7% of the land surface.

• Intact hotspot habitat equals 2.5 of the total land surface.

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 Biodiversity Status in India:

 India is one of the 12 mega-biodiversity countries of the

world.
 It is estimated that 70%of the world’s total flowering plants occur in India
 Indian gets 10th place in the world and 4th in Asia among
these 12 mega-diverse countries
 India has 10 biogeographic zones. They are Trans-Himalaya, Himalaya, Desert,
Semi-arid, Western ghats, Deccan peninsula, Gangetic plain, Coasts, North-East, Islands
 It is among top 10-15 nations of the world for its great
diversity of plant life, especially flowering plants
 India is a source of traditional crop varieties ranking first amongest the 12 regions
of diversty of crop plants and seventh in the contribution of agricultural species

Apr 25, 2024

  India is the origin of 166 species of crop plants and
320 species of wild relatives of cultivated crops
 India’s marine biodiversty is als rich, supporting the most productive ecosystems such
as mangroves, coral reefs and estuaries
 In India, among plant kingdom angiosperms tops the list(17,500 species) while
gymnosperms are the least, comprising only of 64 species
 In India, among animal kingdom, arthropoda tops the list(68,389) while Protochordata
are the list with only 119 species
 The endemics are concentarted mainly in western ghats, NE Himalayas, NW
Himalayas and Andaman & Nicobar islands. About 33% of the flowering plants present are
endemic
 About 53%fresh water fishes are endemic
 About 60%of amphibians are endemic mostly in western ghats
 About 36%reptiles are endemic
 About 10%mammals are endemic

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 Reginal or local Biodiversity:
Biodiversity at regional level is better understood by categorizing species richness
into four types, based upon their spatial distribution.

Point richness: the number of species that can be found at single point in a given space.

Alpha richness: the number of species found in a small homogeneous area.

Beta richness: the rate of change in species composition across different habitats.

Gamma richness: the rate of change cross large landscape gradients

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 HOTSPOTS OF BIODIVERSITY
Biodiversity refers to the variety and variability among all groups of living organisms
and ecosystem complexes in which they occur.
Areas which exhibit high species richness as well as high species endemism are
termed as HOT SPOTS OF BIODIVERSITY.

To qualify as a hotspot, a region

must meet two strict criteria:
it must contain at least 1,500
species of vascular plants
(> 0.5 percent of the world's total)
as endemics,and it has to have
lost at least 70 percent of its
original habitat.

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 Important hot spots

1.western Ghats and Sri Lanka

2.Himalaya

3.Mediterranean basin 4.Indo-Burma

5.Horn of Africa

6.Madagacsar and Indian ocean islands

7.Sundaland

8.Forests of Australia

9.Caucasus

10.Mesoamerica
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Endangered Species :
A species of plant or animal that is in immediate danger of becoming extinct and
needs protection to survive.
Concept:
The endangered species are those
living organisms which are almost
on the critical level.
Thousands of species of plants and animals
are endangered and the number increases
each year.
Kokkare Bellure, Karnataka:
Pelican species –
They need to be preserved because droppings
of these fish eating birds are rich in nitrates
which is a good fertilizer
ENDEMIC SPECIES:
Concept :
The concept of Endemism was first given by CANDOLLE.
When a species is found only in a particular geographical region because of its isolation, soil
and climatic conditions, it is said to be endemic
The Indian Desert:
Mangrove Trees – Mangrove roots
provide support to unstable soils
and withstand currents and storms.
 Threats to biodiversity

Habitat destruction - Important to protect habitat in order to protect biodiversity within it.
Huge pressure from the World’s rapidly increasing population.
Global climate change - Change in a biotic elements of ecosystems leading to biotic
change.
Habitat fragmentation - From human activity. Reduces ability of habitat to support
species.
Pollution - Introduction of pollutants such as nutrient overloading with nitrate fertilizer
as well as more immediately harmful chemicals.
Over-exploitation - This includes the illegal wildlife trade as well as overfishing, logging
of tropical hardwoods etc.
Alien species - Introduced by humans to regions where there are no natural predators.
Disease - Reduction in habitat causing high population densities,
encourages spread of diseases.

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 Loss of Habitat:
Destruction and loss of natural
habitat is single largest cause of biodiversity loss.

Habitat loss can be described when an animal loses their home. Every animal in the animal
kingdom has a niche, a their in their animal community and without their habitat they no longer have
a niche.

Reasons of habitat loss by humans:

~ agriculture, farming
~ harvesting natural resources for personal use
~ for industrial and urbanization development

Habitat destruction is currently ranked as the primary

causes of species extinction world wide…!!!
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 HABITAT FRAGMENTATION:

Natural disturbances or changes in land use lead to the fragmentation of forests. such
habitat changes have a significant impact on biodiversity, as small fragments of habitat
can only support small populations that tend to be more vulnerable to extinction.
It results in reduction of a large, continuous area into two or more fragmented
reduced area . The fragments have greater amount of edge area the original habitat
and also the core of the fragmented habitat is nearer the edge.

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 Poaching:
It is the hunting and harvesting
taking of wild plants or animals,
such as through hunting,
harvesting, fishing, or trapping

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 Why Poaching is done???
Poaching is done for large profits gained by the
illegal sale or trade of animal parts, meat and pelts.
 Exists because there is a demand for these
products, caused by a lack of education or disregard for the law
amongst the buyers
Many cultures believe that certain animal parts
have medicinal value.

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 Poaching is not limited to animals
its also for plants too…………!
Three of the most often poached species in the park
are galax, black cohosh, and ginseng.

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 How does poaching affect the
environment?
Poaching or illegal hunting causes animals endangered of being extinct.
If more animals becomes extinct there's a disruption in the food chain, and that
will
cause major problems in our ecosystem, resulting
eventually in new adaptations of animals, and or species beyond human
control.

Poaching results in animals being hunted too soon for

them to have time to reproduce and repopulate.

Apr 25, 2024

 Man- wild conflicts
Increase in man wildlife conflict is due to resource limitation like :
1.Space ,2. Food , 3. Shelter
It is also due to Increasing population of human beings , Loss of
forest, decrease in quality of forest and development activities.
In India, wild elephants probably kill far more people than tiger, leopard or lion.
Damage to agricultural crops and property, killing of livestock and human beings are some of
the worst forms of man-animal conflict.
Farmers sometimes poison and shoot wild animals as they damage their crops, but this can be
prevented by taking certain measures.

Apr 25, 2024

 Ways to reduce the conflicts
Governments is working on
improvement of habitat to augment
food and water availability and to
Reduce movement of animals from the
forests to the habitations.
Training forest staff and police
to tackle these situations and creating
awareness among the people about the
Do’s and Don’ts to minimize conflicts .
construction of boundary walls
and solar fences around the
sensitive areas to prevent the wild
animal attacks.
Some devices of Information Technology, viz., radio collars with
Very High Frequency, Global Positioning System and Satellite uplink facilities can be used
the movements of wild animals .
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 Endangered Species:
The International Union of Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN)
publishes the Red Data Book which includes the list of endangered species of plants and
animals. The red data symbolizes the warning signal for those species which are
endangered and if not protected are likely to become extinct in near future.

Persian leopards
brown bears

golden eagles on
bis

Apr 25, 2024

 Conservation of Biodiversity:

The convention on Biological Diversity held in June, 1992 stressed the need of the
conservation of Biodiversity for sustainable development and perpetuation of human beings
on earth.

Conservation is defined as “ the management of human use of the biosphere so that it

may yield the greatest sustainable benefit to the present generation while maintain in gits
potential to meet the needs and aspirations of the future generations”.

The two basic approaches to wildlife conservation in protected habitats are:

1) In-situ conservation and
2) Ex-situ conservation.

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 In-situ conservation:

It means conservation of species in its natural ecosystem or even in manmade

ecosystems

These include; Biosphere reserves ,National parks, Wild Life Sanctuaries etc.

At present we have 11 major biosphere reserves, 80 National parks, 420 wildlife

sanctuaries in our country covering 4% of the geographic area.

The JIM CORBETT National Park was 1stnational park established in India.

Apr 25, 2024

Examples of Biosphere reserves of India:
It conserve some representative ecosystems as a whole long-term in situ
conservation. Nilgiri-5,520 sq.km
Nanda Devi - 5,860.69 sq. km
Manas – 2837 sq. km
Gulf of Mannar – 10,500 sq. km
Great Nicobar – 885 sq. km
Panchmarhi – 4,926.28 sq Km

Examples of some National park in India:

It is an area dedicated for the conservation of wildlife along with its environment.
Kaziranga - Assam
GirNational Park - Gujarat
Periyar – Kerala
Sariska – Rajasthan
 Wild Life Sanctuaries of India:

It is also protected areas where killing, hunting, shooting or capturing of

wildlife is prohibited except under control of highest authority.

Examples:

Ghana Bird sanctuaries

Hazaribagh sanctuaries
Aboharwild life sanctuaries
Jaldaparawild life sanctuaries
Mudamalaiwild life sanctuaries

Apr 25, 2024

 Ex-situ conservation

It is defined “ the conservation of component of biological diversity (Sample of

genetic diversity, particularly of endangered species) outside their natural habitats”

It involves maintenance and breeding of endangered plant and animal species

under partially or wholly controlled conditions. E.g. Zoos, Botanical Gardens,
Aquaria, Nurseries, DNA bank, Seed bank, Gene bank etc.

Apr 25, 2024

 In India, we have many gene bank. The important ones are:

National Bureau of Plant genetic Resources (NBPGR),New Delhi:

Agricultural and horticultural crops and their wild varieties are preserved by cryo-
preservation of seeds (at -196º C in Liquid Nitrogen), pollen etc.

National Facility for Plant Tissue Culture Repository (NFPTCR) at NBPGR Campus New
Delhi:
It has been set up for the development of a facility of conservation of varieties of
crop plants/ trees by tissue culture.
Natioanl Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) at located at Karna, Haryana:
It preserves the semen of domesticated bovine animals.
Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree BREEDING (IFGTB):
Located Forest Research Institute, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu. It mainly aims to
identify and evolve different species used in social forestry and afforestation.

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